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KING MUNZA IN ¥VhU DRESS. 



ALTEMUS' YOUNG PEOPLE'S LIBRARY 



THE STORY 

OF 

EXPLORATION AND ADVENTURE 

IN 

AFRICA 

COMPILED 
FROM THE MOST AUTHORITATIVE SOURCES 



V... 



With Eighty Illustrations 







PHILADEE] 

HENRY ALTEMUS 
1896 



IN UNIFORM STYLE 



Copiously Illustrated 



the pilgrim s progress 

Alice's adventures in wonderland 

through the looking-glass & what alice found there 

robinson crusoe 

THE child's story OF THE BIBLE 

THE child's LIFE OF CHRIST 

LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON 

THE FABLES OF iESOP 

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AND THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA 

MOTHER goose's RHYMES, JINGLES AND TALES 

exploration and adventure in the frozen seas 
the story of discovery and exploration in africa 
Gulliver's travels 

ARABIAN nights' ENTERTAINMENTS 

Andersen's fairy tales 
grimm's fairy tales 



Others in Preparation 



Price ^o Cents Each 



Henry Altemus, Philadelphia 



Copyright iSg6 by Henry Altemus 

HiiNKY Altemus. Manufacturer 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



Introductory 9 

Bruce's Travels in Abyssinia . . . .18 

MuNGO Park's Travels 25 

Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney . . -36 

Journey of t^e Landers to the Niger . . 46 

Dr. Barth in Central Africa . . . .52 

Burton and Speke in Central Africa . -57 

Speke and Grant at the Sources of the Nile . ^2 

Livingstone's First Expedition to Africa . . 86 

Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi . .109 

Samuel Baker, and Equatorial Africa . .127 

Livingstone's Last Journeys and Death . .140 

Stanley's Expedition in Search of Livingstone . 153 

Cameron's Journey Across Africa . . .179 

Stanley's Exploration of the Congo . .185 

Stanley's Rescue of Emin Pasha . . .198 




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INTRODUCTORY. 



The name "The Dark Continent," appropriately given 
to Africa, will soon cease to be applicable to that inter- 
esting continent — the third in point of size of the great 
divisions of the globe. Our knowledge of that great 
continent until within the past forty years was very 
limited ; but the host of travelers, who, following the 
example of Bruce and Mungo Park, have penetrated into 
the innermost recesses of Africa, leave little fresh ground 
to be explored. Very soon our future Livingstones 
and Stanleys will sigh in vain, like Alexander, for fresh 
worlds to conquer, and Africa, the last of the continents 
to yield its secrets to the prying eyes of Western civili- 
zation, will cease to be a terra incognita, 

(9) 



I o AFRICAN EXPL ORA TIONS. 

Haifa century ago the sources of the Nile were unex- 
plored, the great lake system of Equatorial and South- 
eastern Africa was unknown, the Mountains of the 
Moon, which find a place in Ptolemy's map as the 
source of the Nile, were regarded as mythical, though 
Stanley's discoveries would seem to have identified them 
with Mount Gordon Bennett (discovered in 1876), and 
Ruvvenzori (the Snowy Mountain, near or on the 
Equator), which he discovered on his last journey. 
Then the Niger and Congo have been traced through a 
great portion of their courses, and Livingstone taught 
us most of what we know of the chief river of Southern 
Africa, the Zambesi. 

The first geographical system of Africa which deserves 
the name, is that of Herodotus, the " Father of History," 
who gave a full description of these regions, and the 
accuracy of his reports have received singular confirma- 
tion by more recent discoveries. The Nile figured as 
the great feature in the system of Herodotus, and he 
described, with tolerable correctness, the northwest 
of Africa as far as the Straits. 

Herodotus tells us that the Egyptian King, Necho, 
sent out an expedition with the design of circumnavigat- 
ing Africa. Nothing is known as to whether or not 
they accomplished their purpose. The Phoenicians are 
known to have formed colonies on the northern coast 
more than 3000 years ago. 

The next geographical system was that of Ptolemy, 
who flourished in the second century. To Ptolemy is 
due the theory that the Nile has its sources in the 
Mountains of the Moon, under or beyond the Equator, 
and he depicts in his map the lakes through which the 
river flows, thus in a remarkable manner shadowing 



INTR OD UCTOR K 1 1 

forth the discoveries of Speke, and Baker, and Stanley. 
He also represents the junction of the Blue Nile of 
Abyssinia with the White Nile at Meroe, which he makes 
into an island. Westward he describes the vast Libyan 
desert as watered by the Gir and Niger, spoken of as 
"rivers of the greatest magnitude," the former of which 
might have been the Gambia or Senegal River. 

Ptolemy, therefore, is entitled to the credit of being 
the first of the ancients to show that the Nile and Niger 
were distinct rivers, one having its sources far to the 
southward, and the Niger, he says, forms the lake of 
Nigritia, which lies in latitute 15°, longitude 18°, thus 
clearly denoting its source from Lake Tchad. 

Respecting Northern Africa, our first authentic in- 
formation comes from the Arabs, who, by means of the 
camel (the ship of the desert), crossed the great 
desert to the centre of the continent, and pro- 
ceeded along the two coasts as far as the Sene- 
gal and the Gambia on the west, and to Sofala on the 
east. The Arabs planted colonies here and elsewhere. 

In the fifteenth century there was a new era in mari- 
time discovery. The Portuguese were the first to give 
an accurate outline of the two coasts, and to complete 
the circumnavigation of the continent. The discovery 
of America and the West India Islands gave rise to the 
traffic in African negroes. Nefarious as is this traffic, 
it was the means of obtaining an accurate knowledge of 
the coast as it lies between the Rivers Senegal and the 
Cameroons. Systematic surveys of the coast and the 
interior followed the French and English settlements in 
Africa. 

A few learned and scientific gentlemen in England 
formed a society in 1788, under the name of *'The 



1 2 AFRICAN EX PL OR A TIONS, 

African Association," their design being the exploration 
of Inner Africa. Owing to the efforts of this Associa- 
tion, important additions were made to the geography 
of Africa, by Houghton, Mungo Park, Hornemana, and 
Burckhardt. Repeated failures discouraged the so- 
ciety, and it was merged" into the Royal Geographical 
Society in 1831. Much more has been done in the last 
65 years to make us acquainted with Africa than was 
accomplished in the preceding 18 centuries. With 
Mungo Park begins the era of increasing endeavors to 
explore the interior. A resume of the travels from 
Park down to the present time will be detailed in the 
present volume. 

In 1892 the area of Africa was given as 11,600,000 
square miles ; and its population was estimated at 
192,520,000. 

Africa is a land of deserts. The Nile is the oldest of 
historical rivers, and afforded the only means of sub- 
sistence to the earliest civilized people on earth, and yet 
the origin of this river remained an enigma almost to 
the present day. It is one of the largest rivers of the 
globe, having a course of about 4000 miles, and drain- 
ing over a million of miles in Africa. The other great 
rivers are the Congo, the Niger, and the Zambesi. 

Lake Tchad is the largest of the lakes. It is situated 
nearly in the centre of the continent: it is about 220 
miles long, and at its widest point is 140 miles broad. 
At some seasons it is nearly dry. 

The climate of Africa, particularly in the rainy zone, 
is entirely uniform, and by reason of its position (four- 
fifths in the tropics), of the large extent of Sahara within 
the hot zone, and of the small water-supply and the 
limited area of the forests, it is extremely dry and hot 



14 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



The interior of Africa is in all probability the hottest 
region on the globe, but exhibits great contrasts of 
temperature. The days often reach a temperature of 125° 
Fahrenheit, yet the nights sometimes have only 55°. 
In the extreme northern and southern parts, the four 
seasons of the temperate zone are found. The supply 
of rain is very scanty. The deserts of Sahara and 
Kalahari are almost rainless. 

The animal life is distinguished by large and clumsy 
forms. Here are found the elephant and rhinoceros and 
the hippopotamus. The average weight of a full grown 
hippopotamus is about 3500 pounds. They abound in 
all the large rivers. The African lion is the noblest animal 
of the race. Leopards are numerous and very fierce. 
Hyenas, ichneumons, and civets are met with. Ante- 
lopes are found everywhere, sometimes in herds of 
100,000. The camel, the Barbary horse, and the ass 
are the beasts of burden mostly used, Numerous genera 
of apes and monkeys are found. The zebra, quagga, 
and the giraffe, the tallest existing mammal in Central 
and Southern Africa, are peculiar to the continent. 
Among birds, the ostrich, described as the feathered 
camel, or the giraffe among birds, is the most remark- 
able. Parrots and bright-colored, noisy birds enliven 
the forests. Among reptiles, the crocodile is found in 
all the large rivers and lakes. Various species of ser- 
pents and lizards are met with ; but they are fewer than 
in other tropical countries, owing to the dryness of the 
climate. Among insects, the termites, or white ants, with 
their cone-like habitations, are most destructive. They 
attack and demolish everything, but metals and stones, 
that comes in their way. Locusts are still more de- 
structive. An army of them passing over a country 




TERMITES: AN ANT HILL, 



1 6 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

leaves it as bare as if it had been swept with a broom. 
They are used as food by many of the native tribes. 
Fish m great variety are to be found in most of the 
rivers and on the coast. On the coast sharks are nu- 
merous ; as are also black and spermaceti whales. 

Mohammedanism and Fetichism are the prevailing re- 
ligions of Africa, except in Abyssinia, where a corrupt 
form of Christianity exists. Human sacrifices are offered 
in some of the negro nations, but rarely except on great 
occasions. The Mohammedans number from 60 to lOO 
millions. Jews are numerous in Morocco, Algeria, and 
Abyssinia; their aggregate in all Africa being about 
800,000. The Roman Catholics claim from one to 
four millions of the population. 

Never has the future of Africa been brighter than at 
the present time. There is no hope for a return of 
those glories which ages upon ages past adorned Egypt ; 
the might of Carthage has long since gone for ever — 
the whole of North Africa has been divided, and the 
signs of improvement are very limited. In other parts 
of the continent, however, new life is springing, channels 
for the introduction of civilization are constantly ap- 
pearing. 

The scramble for Africa goes on apace. Italy has 
secured a firm foothold upon the eastern borders of 
Abyssinia and has schemes of further conquest by war 
or negotiation ; the influence of France is being felt 
throughout Algeria. The first months of the year 1891 
found the French pushing trade routes beyond Ghadmes 
and on through the oases of the Sahara Desert to the 
broad central Soudan ; in Senegambia and the West 
Coast countries, commefce flourishes; the Congo basin 



INTRODUCTORY, 



17 



teems with trading vessels, as the river will surely do 
in the near future; almost the whole of South Africa 
has fallen under British protection. Mashonoland, a 
vast tract of country owned by the Matabele, north of 
the Kuruman River, and not very far from the western 
bends of the Zambesi, has since 189 1 come under the 
sway of the English through the enterprise of the British 
South Africa Company; in Nyassaland the claims of 
England are firmly established. In Central Africa, in- 
deed, an expanse — six hundred thousand square miles — 
of rich territory came within recognized British control 
in 1890. Germany then received a large slice of country 
as her share of the bargain. 

All this cannot fail to exert a powerful influence for 
good upon Africa. With still greater strides will Chris- 
tianity and civilization advance, until the whole conti- 
nent shall be flooded with their light. 



CHAPTER II. 
Bruce's Travels in Abyssinia. 

To discover the country of Prester John, the mysteri- 
ous Christian monarch of the East — -first supposed to be 
in Tartary, and then in Abyssinia — and to effect the 
passage to India, were the chief motives of the voyage 
in i486, of Bartholomew Diaz, the first navigator to 
round the Cape of Good Hope (which he ver}^ correctly 
named Cape Stormy), and of Vasco de Gama, who, 
twelve years after, voyaged up the east coast of Africa, 
and passing Mozambique, Mombassa, and Melinda, 
crossed the Indian Ocean in 23 days, and cast anchor in 
Calicut, on the Malabar coast. 

The first European to penetrate into Abyssinia, of 
whom we have any record, was the Portuguese Covil- 
hani, who was sent on a mission by land to Prester 
John from the King of Portugal, with the object of in- 
quiring whether it was possible to sail to India from the 
Cape of Good Hope, which Diaz had recently discovered. 
Covilham quitted Lisbon in May, 1487, and first visiting 
India, proceeded to Abyssinia, where he was detained 
by the King, and held high office in the state. In the 
year 1525, when Rodriguez de Lima went as Portuguese 
ambassador to Abyssinia, Covilham was still alive, 
(18) 




JAMES BRUCE. 



19 



20 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



Lima's secretary, Alvarez, wrote a narrative of his six 
years' residence in the country, which is of great interest. 
In this work Alvarez speaks of the King of Abyssinia 
as Prete Janni, or Prester John. 

The Portuguese attained much influence in the coun- 
try through Payz and other priests of the Roman 
Catholic Church. Payz has the distinction of discover- 
ing the sources of the Blue Nile, known as the Bahr-el- 
Azrek, to distinguish it from tlie Bahr-el-Abiad, which 
D'Anville was the first to point out w^as the true, or 
*' White Nile." The following passage from Payz's 
Journal, is of interest, as giving the first description of 
the so-called fountains of the Nile, which Bruce visited 
at a later period : — 

" The source of the Nile is situated on the elevated 
point of a valley, which resembles a large plain, sur- 
rounded on every side with ridges of hills. While I re- 
sided in this kingdom, I ascended this place on April 
21, 1618, and took a diligent survey of every part of it. 
I saw two round fountains, but about five palms in di- 
ameter. Great was my pleasure in beholding what 
Cyrus, King of the Persians, Cambyses, Alexander the 
Great, and the renowned Julius Caesar sought eagerly, 
but in vain, to find. The water is very clear, light and 
agreeable to the taste; yet these two fountains have no 
outlet in the higher part of the mountain plain, but only 
at the foot. The inhabitants say the whole mountain is 
full of water, which they prove by this : that all the 
plain about the fountain is tremulous and bubbling — a 
sure proof of water underneath ; and that, for the same 
cause, the water does not run over the sources, but 
throws itself out with greater force lower down. The 
inhabitants affirmed, that, though the ground had 



BRUCE' S TRAVELS IN ABYSSINIA, 2 1 

trembled little this year on account of the great dryness, 
yet that in common seasons it shook and bubbled to such 
a degree as scarcely to be approached without danger. 

Payz relates the course of the Nile, the tributaries 
which it receives, its crossing lake Dembea, with a visi- 
ble separation of waters, the tremendous cataract of 
Alata, and then the semicircular course round Begun- 
der, Shooa, Amhara, and Damot, till it approaches within 
a day's journey of its sources. The regions which it 
chiefly watered were barbarous, and almost unknown ; 
so, by an Abyssinian prince, -who had marched an army 
into them, they were called the '* New World." *' Pass- 
ing then," he says, '' through innumerable regions and 
over stupendous precipices, it enters Egypt." 

A long period elapsed before a European again visited 
Abyssinia, and the first to do so was James Bruce, then 
English Consul at Algiers. He explored Tripoli, Tunis, 
Syria, and Egypt ; his object being to penetrate to the 
sources of the Nile, and in seeking to do this, he ex- 
plored a great portion of the country, and displayed 
great resolution and perseverance in surmounting end- 
less difficulties and dangers. Bruce left Massowah for 
the interior on November 10, 1769, and passing through 
Adowa, in Tigre, visited the monastery of Fremma, the 
chief establishment of the Jesuits. He describes it as 
about a mile in circumference, surrounded by walls 
flanked with towers, presenting the appearance of a 
castle rather than a convent. 

He arrived at Gondar, the capital of Abyssinia, in 
February, 1770, where was the palace of the King. 
Here he ingratiated himself with the sovereign, and 
other influential persons, by professing to be a physician, 
courtier, and soldier. 



22 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 



He obtained permission to visit the sources of the 
Nile (Bahr-el-Azrek) which Payz claimed to have dis- 
covered. He visited first the great cataract of Alata, 
down which the Nile falls after passing through the 
Lake of Dembea. He describes it as the most magnifi- 
cent sight he ever beheld. The whole river fell down 
in one sheet from the height of about 40 feet, with a 
force and noise which made our traveler dizzy. A 
thick haze covered the fall, and spread over the course 
of the stream both above and below. 

Bruce had an interview -at Bamba with Fasil, the Galla 
chief, who, with other confederates, had captured Gondar 
and set up a king of their own. At length he reached 
the district, a green and fertile region, in which those 
long-sought-for fountains were to be found. His emo- 
tions were first raised to the highest pitch by arriving 
at a portion of the infant stream so narrow that it could 
be stepped over, which he did in triumph, fifty or sixty 
times. He was led by his guide to the principal foun- 
tain. He now burst into raptures similar to those of 
Payz, at having arrived at an object which the most 
powerful sovereigns of ancient or modern times had 
sought in vain to explore. 

Bruce quitted Gondar on December 26, I77i,and re- 
turned homewards by the route of Senaar, and arrived 
at the point of junction of the White and Blue Niles, 
near the spot where the city of Khartoum is now situ- 
ated. He made the mistake of considering the Abyssin- 
ian Nile, the sources of which he had visited, as the true 
Nile, though he observes that the Bahr-el-Abiad rolls 
three times the volume of water and is constantly full, 
while the other is a great stream only in the rainy 
season. This theory has been disproved by the ge- 




DESERT TRAVELER AND GUIDE. 



23 



24 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

ographer D'Anville, who showed conclusively, that the 
main stream of the Nile is the mighty river that flows 
through Equatorial Africa, having its rise in the great 
lake system discovered by Speke and Baker. 

From here Bruce journeyed to Shendy, and pushing 
on to Berber, soon quitted the course of the river, which 
takes a great bend to the west. He and his companions 
traversed the great Nubian desert, where, for 500 miles, 
they met no human habitation. Only a few watering- 
places interrupted the expanse of naked rock and burn- 
ing sands. The travelers had nearly sunk under this 
journey, especially as, towards the close of it, the camels 
were unable to proceed. He made, however, a last 
effort, by which they at length came in sight of the Nile, 
near Syene, where their sufferings terminated. 

Bruce arrived at Alexandria early in March, 1773, 
whence he sailed for Marseilles, and proceeded to Paris, 
and thence to England, where he arrived in June, 1774, 
having been absent twelve years. He published, in 
1790, a record of his travels. It met with a kind re- 
ception from the public, though there were critics who 
took exception to some of his statements, and insisted 
that he was unworthy of credence. Though there may 
have been exaggerations, -the general truth of his facts 
have long since been established. 

That Bruce considered he had discovered the sources 
of the great Nile instead of the lesser stream, was 
scarcely a subject of wonder considering the ignorance 
that existed in his day. After escaping great and man- 
ifold dangers in his wanderings through barbarous 
countries, this enterprising traveler lost his life in conse- 
quence of an accidental fall downstairs in his own house 
on April 26, 1794. 



CHAPTER III. 
MuNGo Park's Travels. 

In i6i8, the African Company sent a vessel with the 
object of exploring the Gambia, commanded by Richard 
Thompson, with a cargo of goods to trade with the 
natives. Thompson proceeded as high up the river as 
Kassan ; but the Portuguese, animated by jealousy, 
massacred most of the crew. It was subsequently 
learned that Thompson was murdered by his men. 

The company did nothing in the way of discovery 
until 1723, when they sent another expedition to the 
Gambia ; but it only proceeded 59 miles above Barra- 
conda. While the English sought to ascend the Gambia, 
deeming it the Niger, the French navigated the Senegal, 
hoping to reach the city of Timbuctoo and the region 
of gold. At the mouth of this river they founded the 
settlement of Louis about the year 1625, and their 
director, General Brue, ascended the Senegal in the years 
1697-98, reaching as high as Felu. He founded a fort 
called St. Joseph, which long continued the principal seat 
of French commerce on the Upper Senegal. Subsequent 
governors visited Bambouk ; but the glories of African 
discovery in the regions of the Niger, as in those of 
Zambesi and the Equatorial lake region, were reaped 
by their English rivals. 

(25) 



26 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 

Much of the success achieved was due to the African 
Association. Although the Company only offered their 
expenses to travelers who engaged to explore the 
interior of Africa, there were many eager aspirants for 
the honor. The first was Ledyard, who had circum- 
navigated the globe with Capti^in Cook, and lived for 
many years with the North American Indians. Ledyard, 
however, got no farther than Cairo, where he died in 
1788. The next traveler engaged was Lucas, who had 
been three years a galley slave among the Moors, but 
he penetrated only a short distance from Tripoli. The 
third expedition was made by Major Houghton from a 
different quarter. He undertook to reach the Niger by 
the route of the Gambia, and not by boats, but by land. 
He set out early in 1791, and quitting the Gambia at 
Medina, arrived at Ferbanna on the Faleme. He pushed 
on, reached Timbuctoo, but was robbed and stripped, to 
wander about in the desert until he perished miserably, 

Mungo Park, who long ranked as the chief of African 
travelers, was born on September 16, 1 77 1, in Scotland. 
He receiv^ed a good seminary education, and afterwards 
studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. Hav- 
ing spent two years in London gaining the necessary 
qualifications, he set sail in May, and on June 21, 1795, 
arrived at Jillifree, near the mouth of the Gambia. 

His instructions were to make his way to the Niger 
by Bambouk, or any other route, to ascertain the course 
of that river, and to visit the principal towns in its 
neighborhood, particularly Timbuctoo, and afterwards 
to return by way of the Gambia, or any other route he 
might deem advisable. Park at once proceeded up the 
Gambia to Pisania, where he set to work to learn the 
Madingo tongue, and to collect information from black 



MUNGO PARK'S TRAVELS, 



27 



traders. During his stay at Pisania, he was ill for two 
months with a severe fever, from which he recovered. 




MUNGO PARK. 



A caravan was about to start for the interior of Africa, 
and Park arranged to accompany it. He reached the 
town of Wassiboo, where he met eight fugitive Kaartan 



28 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 

negroes, who had escaped from the Moors, and who 
were on their road to offer their allegiance to the King 
of Bambarra. Park agreed to accompany them. The 
near approach to Sego was indicated by the crowds 
hastening to its markets, and on July 21, 1796, one of 
his companions called out, " See the water ! " and, look- 
ing forward, he says : — 

** I saw with infinite pleasure the great object of my 
mission, the long-sought-for, majestic Niger, glittering 
in the morning sun, and flowing slowly to the east. I 
hastened to the brink, and having drunk of the water, 
lifted up my fervent thanks in prayer to the Great Ruler 
of all things for having thus far crowned my efforts with 
success." Sego, the capital of Bambarra, consists of 
four distinct towns ; two on the north, and two on the 
south bank of the Niger, on which floated numerous 
canoes. The place is surrounded by high mud walls. 
The houses are built of clay, of a square form, with flat 
roofs, some of them of two stories, and most of them 
whitewashed. Moorish mosques are seen in every 
quarter, and the streets, though narrow, are broad 
enough for every useful purpose in a country where 
street carriages are unknown. Sego contains about 
30,000 inhabitants. 

He heard that Timbuctoo, the great object of his search, 
was entirely in possession of a savage and merciless 
band of Moors, who allowed no Christian to live there. 
He had advanced too far to think of returning, and de- 
termined to proceed. 

Being provided with a guide, Park left the village on 
the morning of July 24, traveling through a cultivated 
country, the scenery resembling England more than he 
expected to find in the middle of Africa. In the even- 



20 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 

ing he reached the large town of Sansanding, the resort 
of numerous Moorish caravans from the shores of the 
Mediterranean. 

On September i6, he reached the town of Kamaha, 
where he met a negro, Kafa Taura, who was collecting 
a caravan of slaves to convey to the European settle- 
ments on the Gambia, as soon as the rains should be 
over. Here Park was laid up by a fever, and passed 
five weeks in gloomy isolation. The fever left him in a 
very debilitated condition. 

The caravan departed on April 19, 1797; and the 
irons being removed from the slaves, every one had his 
load assigned to him. Kafa had 27 slaves for sale, but 
eight others afterw^ards joined them. Altogether the 
caravan numbered 73 persons. 

The worst part of the journey was through the 
Jallouka wilderness. The country was beautiful, and 
abounded wnth birds and deer, but so anxious were they 
to push on that they made 30 miles that day. Being 
advised that 200 Jalloukas were lying in wait to plunder 
them, they changed their course, and entered the town 
of Koba. On June 10, 1797, Pisania was reached, and 
Park was welcomed as one risen from the dead by his 
friends who had heard that the Moors had murdered 
him. 

Park waited at Pisania some time, and finding no ves- 
sel likely to sail direct to England, he took his passage 
on board a slave vessel, bound for South Carolina. 
She, however, through stress of weather, put into Anti- 
gua, and from thence he sailed in an English packet, 
and arrived at Falmouth on December 22, 1797. having 
been absent from England about two years and ^^v^n 
months. 



22 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

Park published the narrative of his journey, early in 
1799, and the interest attaching to his adventures made 
it very popular. After his return to England, Park 
married the daughter of Mr. Anderson, with whom he 
had served his apprenticeship as a surgeon, and resided 
a couple of years on the farm in Scotland. 

After this he practised his profession for some time ; 
but this sort of life not satisfying his ardent temperament, 
in October, 1 80 1, he accepted an invitation made by the 
Government, to undertake an expedition, on a large 
scale, into the interior of Africa. Owing to the war 
with France, it was not until 1804, that he was author- 
ized to make arrangements for the journey. 

The expedition consisted of Park himself, his brother- 
in-law (Mr. Anderson), and George Scott, draughtsman, 
together with four artificers, who, on his arrival at Sego, 
were to build two boats, in which he purposed to sail 
down the Niger to the estuary of the Congo. Park 
sailed from Portsmouth on January 30, 1805, and after 
touching at the Cape Verde Islands, reached Goree on 
March 28. Here he selected 35 soldiers, under the 
command of Lieutenant Martyn, as well as two sailors 
from the Squirrel, a frigate. 

On arriving at the Gambia, the party, full of hope and 
in high spirits, pushed on to Pisania. On May 4, the 
caravan set forth from Pisania, whence nearly ten years 
before Park had commenced his adventurous journey 
into the interior. 

The arrangements for the march were well devised, but 
no human foresight could guard against the deadly in- 
fluence of the African climate. One by one, in rapid 
succession, Park's companions were attacked by the fever. 
Some of them died ; some were left behind on the road, 



MUNGO PARK'S TRAVELS, 



33 



and were no doubt robbed and murdered by the prowling 
thieves. Park himself, Scott, Martyn and Anderson were 
forced to give up, and stopped at some of the villages 
till they recovered sufficiently to resume their journey. 




A SLAVE. 



On August 19, the sad remnant of the expedition as- 
cended the mountainous ridge which separates the Niger 
from the remote branches of the Senegal. Park hastened 
on ahead, and, coming to the brow of the hill, once 

3 



34 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



more saw the mighty river. Descending from thence 
towards Bambakoo, the travelers pitched their tents 
under a tree near that town. 

Of the 34 soldiers and four carpenters who left the 
Gambia, only six soldiers and one carpenter reached 
the Niger. All were suffering from sickness, and some 
nearly at the last extremity. 

The sad news now reached him of Scott's death, and 
soon after his brother-in-law, Anderson, breathed his last. 
** No event," Park remarks, ** which took place during 
the journey ever threw the smallest gloom over my 
mind, till I laid Mr. Anderson in the grave, I then felt 
myself left a second time lonely and friendless amidst 
the wilds of Africa.'' 

Some days before this, the guide returned with a 
large canoe, much decayed and patched. Park and one 
of the surviving soldiers, took out all the rotten pieces, 
and, by adding on portions of another canoe, with 1 8 
days' hard labor, they changed the Bambarra canoe 
into His Majesty's schooner jfoliba. Her length was 40 
feet, breadth six feet ; and, being flat-bottomed, she 
drew only one foot of water when loaded. In this craft 
he and his surviving companions embarked on Novem- 
ber 17, on which day his journal closes. He intended 
to begin his adventurous voyage down the Joliba. 
Besides Park and Lieutenant Martyn, two Europeans 
only survived. They purchased three slaves to assist in 
the navigation of the vessel. 

Descending the stream, they passed Silla and Jenne 
without molestation ; but lower down, in the neighbor- 
hood of Timbuctoo, they were followed by armed ca- 
noes, which they beat off, killing several of the natives. 
They had to fight their way down past a number of 



MUNGO PARK'S TRAVELS. 



35 



places, once striking on the rocks, and being nearly 
capsized by a hippopotamus which rose near them. 
Having a large stock of provisions, they were able to 
proceed without going on shore. At Yaour, the people 
threw lances and stones at him. He defended himself 
for a long time, till two of his slaves in the stern of the 
boat were killed. 

Finding no hope of escape. Park took hold of one of 
the white men and jumped into the water, and Martyn 
did the same, hoping to reach the shore, but all were 
drowned in the attempt. The only slave remaining in 
the boat, seeing the natives persist in throwing their 
weapons, entreated them to stop. On this they took 
possession of the canoe and the man, and carried them 
to the King. From the interpreter was learned the 
manner in which Park and his companions had perished. 

Park could not have been aware of the n.umerous 
rapids and other difficulties he would have to encounter 
in descending the upper courses of the Niger. In all 
probability his frail and ill-constructed vessel would 
have been wrecked before he had gone many miles be- 
low the spot where he lost his life. Had he succeeded 
in passing that dangerous part, he might have navigated 
the mighty stream to its mouth. 

Although at first the account of Park's death was not 
believed in England, subsequent inquiries left no doubt 
that all the statements were substantially correct. Thus 
perished, in the prime of life, that heroic traveler, at the 
very time when he had good reason to believe that he 
was about to solve the problem of the Niger's course, 
and to dispel the belief that ft was identical with the 
Congo. He died about the end of the year 1805. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Denham and Clapperton, and Oudney — Travels 
IN the Great Sahara Borderland. 

The dreadful termination to the wanderings and suf- 
ferings of Mungo Park in no way damped the ardor of 
British merchants for the extension of trade upon the 
Gambia, the Senegal, and the Niger ; nor were geogra- 
phers any the less inclined to push on inquiries east- 
wards from Senegambia and the Kong Mountains. 

Park's life was not the first that had been sacrificed 
in those regions ; his endeavors were not the only ones 
that had been partially futile. Richard Thompson went 
out in i6i8, and died east of Kasson. Upon news 
of Park's decease being received, expeditions were 
launched, under Captain Tuckay and Major Peddie, the 
latter ascending the Congo to find its bearing, if any, up- 
on the Niger, a doubt existing in many minds that the 
waters of the two rivers joined somewhere. As in 
Park's second enterprise, dysentery, fever, and death 
wrought fearful havoc and defeat, and subsequent ex- 
ploration parties, headed by capable officers, did not 
accomplish very much more than confirming the dis- 
coveries of Houghton and Park, until a series of daring en- 
terprises conducted by Captain Clapperton and Richard 
Lander added greatly to the knowledge concerning the 
(36) 



THE GREAT SAHARA BORDERLAND. 



37 



rivers finding a limit upon the north-west coast of Africa, 
and in the discovery of Lake Tchad or Chad, 300 miles 




HUGH CLAPPERTON. 



in circumference, and in the regions of Bornou and 
Kassem — districts, hke Songhay, Timbuctoo, and Sock- 



38 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



atoo, centuries old, and whose history is very dimly 
recorded, notwithstanding the once mighty, well-organ- 
ized rule of men. 

Hugh Clapperton was a born explorer, of magnificent 
physique, and fearless in spirit ; he sailed the Indian seas 
when a lad, was pressed into the navy, saw active ser- 
vice in Canada, and was affected by a desire to go out 
and fill in the gap left open by Mungo Park. Dr. 
Oudney, a personal friend of his, placed his services at 
the disposal of the Government for African exploration ; 
and was appointed Consul to Bornou, with full permis- 
sion to traverse the regions of North, Central, and North- 
west Africa, and to take with him Captain Clapperton 
and Major Dixon Denham. 

The course selected by Dr. Oudney was across the 
great Sahara. The desert was full of dangers, but the 
route was preferable for North Central African explora- 
ation to any course from the west or from the Nile and 
the east. 

The port of Tripoli was left behind in February, 1822, 
a caravan was constituted inland, and the town of Mour- 
zak was reached with trifling loss. 

A number of merchants swelled the caravan, and 
everything pointed to a successful march across the 
desert, which was duly completed, Kouka, upon the 
shores of Lake Tchad, and in the Bornou country, being 
reached February 7, 1 823. Not, however, before every 
member of the united caravan had suffered greatly. 
Oudney and Clapperton were unwell at starting, and the 
terrible heat of the desert did not tend to improve their 
condition. Broad salt fields, glistening in the sun, had 
to be crossed ; and we are told in Clapperton and Den- 
ham's account of their journeyings, how that, at irregular 



40 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

intervals in the desert, skeletons of men, horses, and 
camels were to be seen. Human beings and animals 
had been overtaken by terrific sand-storms, or had sur- 
vived them only to die of hunger and thirst. At one 
spot alone, nearly lOO skeletons were counted. They 
were but skeletons of blacks> carelessly exclaimed the 
Arabs, who laughed at the sympathy exhibited by the 
Englishmen. Large numbers were those of Soudanese 
captured for the slave market, and left to perish on the 
road to Fezzan, owing to the scarcity of provisions. 

From Kouka expeditions were made, and much that 
was valuable geographically exposed. Denham went 
among the Mandara horsemen, and was robbed and 
stripped naked, as Park had been. Denham returned to 
Kouka, then went eastward, saw no more of Lake Tchad, 
and was back at Kouka, to welcome Clapperton from a 
journey into the Soudan region. Denham had started 
for the Soudan in company with Dr. Oudney in the 
middle of December, 1823. Joining a caravan, they 
passed among the Shooa Arabs, entered the city of 
Katagum, where they were received in state, and offered 
slaves as presents, and coming to Murmur, Oudney, 
who had healed many in these far-off towns and villages, 
and in the desert, was obliged himself to yield to the 
merciless inroads of consumption. He was buried in a 
deep grave by Clapperton, who was impelled to proceed 
to the walled trading city of Kano. He narrowly es- 
caped death, fever attacking him. Three weeks later 
Clapperton was at Sockatoo, where he was received by 
the Sultan, from whose officers he learned something 
concerning poor Mungo Park's last days, and was 
told that the Niger flowed on to the sea at a place 
to the west, known as Jagra. Clapperton thereupon 



42 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



resolved to follow the Niger, whose waters rolled on 
past Sockatoo. 

At Bilma they laid in a stock of dates for the next 
14 days, during which man and beast nearly subsisted 
upon them, the slaves for 20 days together mostly get- 
ting no other food. 

Then came the stony desert, which the camels, already 
worn out by the heavy sand-hills, had to cross for nine 
days. 

On the day they made El Wahr, and the two follow- 
ing, camels in great numbers dropped down and died, 
or were quickly killed and the meat brought in by the 
hungry slaves. 

On January 21, 1825, they reached Tripoli, and soon 
after embarked for Leghorn, where they were long de- 
tained by quarantine, so that the three survivors of the 
expedition did not reach England till June i, 1825, 
having been absent three years. 

From the favorable report which Clapperton on his 
return home brought of the Sultan Bello of Sockatoo, 
and his wish to open up a commercial intercourse with 
the English, the Government determined to send out 
another expedition, in the hope that that object might 
be carried out, and that means might be found for 
putting a check on the slave trade in that part of Afriga. 

Clapperton, now raised to the rank of commander, was 
placed at the head of the expedition. Captain Pearce 
and a Mr. Morrison, a naval surgeon, were appointed to 
serve under him. He also en^acred the services of Mr. 
Dickson, anotlier surgeon, and of a very intelh'gent 
young man, Richard Lander, who was to act as his 
servant. 

After a stay of only four months, Clapperton sailed 



44 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 

from Portsmouth, and, touching at Sierra Leone, arrived 
at Benin on November 26, 1825. 

Dickson, wishing to make liis way alone to Sockatoo, 
was landed at Whidah, and set off for Dahomey. Here 
he was well received and set forward to a place called 
Shar, 17 days' journey from Dahomey. From thence 
he was known to have set forward with another escort, 
but from that time nothing whatever was heard of him. 

At Benin, Clapperton met an English merchant who 
advised him not to ascend the river, but to take a route 
from Badagarry across the country to Katumga, the 
capital of Youriba. That the journey was an ill one 
was quickly shown, for fever and dysentery broke out, 
Pearce and Morrison being the first victims. Their 
death was a great blow to Clapperton ; but like all ex- 
plorers he was resolved, and he proceeded to the capital 
of Youriba, arriving there in the middle of January, 1826. 

The Clapperton expedition struck the Niger at 
Boussa, the place of Park's death. Instead, however, 
of tracing its waters southwards, the direction in which 
it runs, the route was continued to Sockatoo. Report 
has it that a deadly aversion to sailing down the river 
or traversing its banks seized upon Clapperton, that a 
strong conviction took root in his mind, after viewing 
the scene of Park's tragic decease, that no white man 
would live to tell the story of the Niger outlet. Having 
stayed a short time at Sockatoo, Clapperton was prepar- 
ing to leave when he was attacked by dysentery, and died 
April 13, 1827, yet one more victim to the Niger outlet 
fever. 

Richard Lander tells the story of Clapperton's last 
days. The hero was aware that his end approached. 
Every day he would be carried into the open air and 



THE GREAT SAHARA BORDERLAND, 



45 



have read to him a portion of Scripture, particularly 
Psalm xcv. One day he called Lander into his wretched 
dwelling and said with calmness, *' Richard, I shall soon 
be no more ; I feel myself dying." Not long after that 
sad interview in the lonely hut, Clapperton breathed his 
last. 

Having seen his master decently interred, and col- 
lected his papers and clothing, Richard Lander very 
pluckily led those remaining of the force to the coast by 
much the same route as that taken to Sockatoo. He 
would have trusted himself, young as he was, to the 
Niger, and discovered its outlet, had not the natives ab- 
solutely barred his progress. 

Lander returned to Badagarry by the route which had 
been traversed by Clapperton, and reached London 
April 30, 1826. 

Denham returned to Sierre Leone in 1826, as super- 
intendent of the liberated Africans, and in 1828 he was 
appointed governor of the colony. On June 9, 1828, 
he died of a fever, after a few days' illness. 

Denham and Clapperton made important contributions 
to the geography of Africa, though they failed in the 
chief object of their expedition to discover the course 
and connections of the Niger. 



CHAPTER V. 
The Landers : on the Banks of the Rolling Niger. 

The achievment by Richard Lander was postponed. 

On his return home the probability of the Niger los- 
ing itself in the Atlantic was admitted, and to him was 
entrusted a mission to revisit, on behalf of the British 
Government, the town of Boussa. He was not to leave 
the Niger until its outlet should be determined, whether 
its disappearance was to the sea in the south-west, or 
eastwards to Lake Tchad ; but to follow its course, if 
possible, to its termination, wherever that might be. 

That voyage from Portsmouth to Cape Coast Castle, 
in the month of January, 1830, was surely the most re- 
markable, as regards the circumstances surrounding it, 
ever known. 

Richard Lander was 26 years old. He had not the 
advantage of education upon his side. He was at sea, 
off to the West Indies, when a boy of twelve ; and was in 
South Africa more than once while a lad, so that of 
scholarly attainments he could have none. His prede- 
cessors in North African exploration were versed in 
Arabic ; Lander knew it not, nor anything worth the 
name of dialect. Of astronomy and navigation he could 
have a smattering, not more ; while of medicine he was 
positively ignorant, and of trade he was as innocent. 
(46) 



-ifP •T" jT-'i f n jf-"^ '^ II i™'^r'"rT''iiiiiiwi0T{i!'iiii 











HE 



»■ 



48 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 



Evidently he was imbued with courage — who else would 
have faced the dangers and fevers of the north-west 
coast territory, when so many able-bodied travelers had 
fallen a prey to their temerity ? 

Richard Lander possessed the qualities of a success- 
ful explorer. The courage, perseverance, and judg- 
ment exhibited by him in making his way from Sockatoo 
to the coast after the death of Clapperton, and the bold 
attempt to follow the course of the Niger to the sea, 
pointed him out to the Government as a fit person to 
lead another expedition with that object in view. 

They went to Badagarry, and, on March 31, 1830, 
began their journey into the interior, proceeding up the 
river as far as it was navigable. Up country they pro- 
cured horses, on which they continued their journey. 
Both the brothers suffered from sickness; but, un- 
daunted, they pursued their course till they reached 
Katunga, the capital of Youriba. 

Lander informed the King that his purpose was 
to go to Bornou by way of Youri, and requested a 
safe conduct through his territories. This permission 
was granted, and, sending their horses by land, they 
proceeded up the river in a canoe, which was furnished 
them, towards Youri. 

After proceeding a short distance, the stream grad- 
ually widened to two miles, in some places the water 
being very shallow, but in others of considerable depth. 
Steering directly northward they voyaged on for four 
days, having passed, they were told, all the dangerous 
rocks and sand-banks which are to be found above 
Youri or below Boussa. 

Landing at a little village on the bank, where their 



ON THE BANKS OF THE ROLLING NIGER, 



49 



horses met them, they rode a distance of eight miles to 
the walls of Youri. 

Their visit to the Sultan of Youri was not without 
interest, as it enabled them to obtain the only relics of 
the last journey of Mungo Park that have ever come to 
light. These were a richly embroidered robe, a gun, 
an old nautical almanac, a book of the Psalms of David, 
and his journal,* describing his journey from the Gambia 
to the Niger. 

The King expressed his readiness to assist them, but 
declared that he could not forward them on their way 
to the eastward, as he would be unable to guarantee 
their safety, and that the best thing he could do was to 
send them back to Boussa. 

On August 2, they set off on their road to Boussa, 
but here they were kept some weeks. 

It was September 30 before they obtained the canoes, 
and were able to embark. The current rapidly bore 
them down the stream. Their voyaye began prosper- 
ously ; but they were detained at several places by the 
chiefs, who wished to get as much as they could out of 
them. 

At Leechee the Niger was found to be three miles in 
width. The boatmen they engaged here paddled on 

* With this journal was the following letter from the heroic traveler, 
addressed to Lord Camden, dated, " On board H. M. schooner Joliba, 
at anchor off Sansandig, November 17, 1805. — I have turned a large 
canoe into a tolerably good schooner, on board of which I this day 
hoisted the British flag, and set sail with the fixed resolution to discover 
the termination of the Niger, or perish in the attempt. . . '. . My 
dear friend Mr. Anderson, and likewise Mr. Scott, are both dead : but, 
though all the Europeans who are with me should die, and though I were 
myself half dead, I would still proceed, and if I could not succeed in 
the object of my journey, I would at least die on the Niger." This 
heroic resolve the great traveler sealed a few days later with his life. 

4 



50 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



for forty minutes, refused to go farther, and they had to 
wait till they could obtain a fresh crew. Indeed, at 
the different places at which they stopped, they were 
vexatiously delayed on various pretexts by the natives. 

A palaver with King Obie of Brass Town had an un- 
pleasant sequel. Near as the Landers were to the sea, 
they were to be disposed of as slaves, they were informed 
secretly. Provisions could scarcely be procured, there 
were renewed threats of detention ; and more attacks of 
fever made the situation most depressing. The brothers 
were prisoners without any prospect of freedom. 

Richard Lander had nothing to offer ; he and John 
were reduced to poverty and wretchedness. Only one 
condition they could propose — that, given their liberty, 
any tax or ransom fixed upon by the sable chief, would 
be forthcoming the moment they arrived within the 
sphere of British influence. That promise the brothers 
faithfully discharged. 

Richard Lander, leaving his brother as hostage and 
his men at the town, set off in a canoe that was to con- 
vey him to the sea. After traveling 60 miles down the 
river, his feelings of delight may be imagined when he 
had ocular evidence that he had at length succeeded in 
tracing the mysterious Niger down to the ocean, by see- 
ing before him two vessels, one the Spanish slaver, the 
other an English brig. 

The chief was induced to go back to bring John 
Lander and the rest of the men on Richard's reiterated 
promise that he would obtain the goods they had 
promised him. He took passage on the English brig 
for Rio Janeiro, which they reached on March 16, and 
from there obtained a passage to England, which they 
reached safely on June 10, 1831. 



ON THE BANKS OF THE ROLLING NIGER. 



SI 



Thus with very humble means, by the energy and 
courage of two unpretending men, was the long-disputed 
problem of the course of the Niger to the sea completely 
solved — a discovery for long years denied to older and 
more experienced men. 

The Royal Geographical Society awarded to Richard 
Lander their gold medal and a money prize of fifty 
guineas. 

The discoveries disclosed by the Landers quickened 
the desire for further extension of trade upon the north- 
west coast of Africa and to towns far inland, and Rich- 
ard Lander embarked July 25, 1832, to act from the 
mouth of the river whose possibilities were now partially 
understood. It was a difficult enterprise ; more serious 
than the merchants who commissioned Lander imagined. 
He got many miles inland, to the banks of the Tchadda, 
a tributary to the Niger, it will be remembered ; was 
beaten back by superior numbers, tried again, was forced 
to escape coastwards, and he ascended the Niger from 
the ocean a third time. It was his last effort. He was 
attacked, wounded by a poisoned arrow, and from its 
effects he expired, February 6, 1834. 



CHAPTER VI. 
Explorations of Dr. Barth in Central Africa. 

The British Government had, in 1 849, appointed 
James Richardson, an experienced traveler in Africa, to 
the command of an expedition which was to start from 
TripoH, and thence endeavor to penetrate to the central 
part of the continent. Dr. Barth, who had spent three 
years traveling through Barbary and the desert tracts 
to the westward bordering the shores of the Mediter- 
ranean, was allowed, accompanied by another German, 
Dr. Overweg, to join the expedition. A light boat, 
which was divided into two portions and could be 
carried on the backs of camels, was provided, and a 
sailor to navigate her either on Lake Tchad or down 
the Niger. 

One of the principal objects of the expedition was the 
abolition of the slave trade, which it was known was 
carried on to a fearful extent in those regions. The 
principal employment of the Moorish tribes on the 
borders of the territories inhabited by blacks was still, 
as in the days of Mungo Park and Clapperton, slave- 
hunting. Villages were attacked for the purpose, when 
the prisoners captured were carried northward across 
the desert and sold in Morocco and the other Barbary 
states. 

(52) 



CENTRAL AFRICA, 53 

Another object was the opening up a lawful commer- 
cial intercourse with the people who might be visited, 
and the exploration of the country for scientific purposes, 
as well as to discover the course of the great river which 
the Landers had seen flowing into the Niger in their 
adventurous voyage down that stream. 

Dr. Barth was the man to succeed. That success 
stamps him as a true hero ; no individual save 
one with all the qualities of heroism could or would 
have passed through the perils he experienced. He 
started with Richardson and Dr. Overweg in 1849 to 
explore the forbidding Sahara and parts of Central 
Africa. Richardson, the leader of the expedition, 
arrived safely at Mousak, Tripoli, branched due west 
to a point near Ghat, and wandered hither and thither, 
north and south. On March 4, 185 i, Richardson fell a 
victim to fatigue, and 18 months afterwards Dr. Over- 
weg expired in the region between Sockatoo and Lake 
Tchad. Practically alone, and his ardor for explora- 
tion unabated, Barth left no place of importance west 
of Lake Tchad and east of Sockatoo, and on the southern 
banks of the lake untouched, striking the Niger at a 
point south of the latter place, and some miles north of 
Boussa. To him is owing the discovery of the Binue, 
the largest affluent of the Niger. News came to 
England of the deaths of Richardson and Overweg, and 
the worst was feared regarding Barth. In the early 
part of 1853, a relief force was despatched, which reached 
the banks of the Tchad. Not to meet Barth, however, 
who returned across the Sahara without coming in con- 
tact with his would-be rescuer, after a course of travel 
quite unique. 

The route of Richardson, Barth, and Overweg was 



54 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

through the Fezzan country from Tripoli. They had 
more than the average amount of luggage, which gave 
them great trouble. A steel boat carried in two sections, 
for use upon Lake Tchad, proved cumbersome in the 
extreme, until divided into four parts distributed more 
evenly among the camels of. the caravan. South of 
Mouzak, Barth was literally lost in the desert. Anxious 
to ascend a mountain he left the caravan without a 
guide, hoping to follow in its track, and come up with 
it. But his excitement took him on too far. Having 
satisfied his curiosity he gazed around, hungry, thirsty, 
footsore and overheated ; but there was nothing to in- 
dicate the course he ought now to pursue. He was 
harried in every direction, sinking sometimes in soft 
dry sand, firing his rifle the while in the hope that his 
friends would learn of his whereabouts and await his 
coming. To no purpose. Darkness fell upon the des- 
ert with Barth a solitary wanderer in it, and so ex- 
hausted, mentally and physically was he, that the sight 
of a number of large fires in the distance served but to 
bring laments instead of serving to cheer him. He 
could not move a step farther. Fever came upon him, 
and he could not sleep, he fired again, but to no pur- 
pose, morning broke, and the sun rising higher and 
higher in the heavens, his situation was pitiful in the ex- 
treme. Just as he was resigning himself to what he be- 
lieved would be his last sleep, he was aroused by a 
mounted Arab who had tracked him, and stretching out 
his hands for help, had the pleasure of being relieved by 
water from the skin carried by the camelman. He was 
assisted by him to the caravan a few miles away. 

Barth's providential escape served to sharpen his de- 
sire for further adventure, for when eight miles from 



CENTRAL AFRICA, 



55 



Sellufet, in the desert region, he set out upon a bullock 
to the old and partially decayed town of Agades, and 
surprised the Sultan, as the first white man his majesty 
had beheld. Barth was two months absent from the 
caravan, rejoined it, left it again on the south-western 
confines of the Soudan; thence passing through a well- 
cultivated country, and among smiling homesteads, he 
arrived at Kano, in Haussa, about equally distant be- 
tween Sockatoo and Lake Tchad. Kano is a city of 
much importance, a centre for trade among the owners 
of caravans from the north, south, east and west, and a 
resting-place for those eager for repose after passing 
amid the difficulties of travel in Northern Africa. Barth 
reckoned upon a fair reception, but he arrived in a re- 
duced condition, presents to chiefs and princes having 
considerably lessened his stock of goods. He was as- 
tonished to see the extent of the city, its large, well- 
built houses, its trading establishments, the briskness 
of its commerce, its workshops and the superior, even 
elegant, fashions of dress among the free men and 
women. But the Moors are in large numbers in Kano, 
and this fact speaks volumes. At Kouka, again, Barth 
found it as Clapperton had done, a city of more than 
50,000 souls, engaged more or less in trade and com- 
merce, and living in houses and amid surroundings 
quite equal to those obtaining in Kano. It was at 
Kouka that Barth heard of Richardson's death. The 
latter died in the city some weeks prior to the doctor's 
arrival. Overweg came in subsequent to a flying visit 
paid by Barth to Lake Tchad, and the two started for 
exploration in the south, moved in towns and villages 
notorious for their systems of slavery, went to the 
eastern shores of Lake Tchad, were attacked and plun- 



c6 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

dered by Arabs, and had a ripe experience in the Man- 
dara country. At Kouka once more, in February, 1852, 
the two parted — Overweg to visit Lake Tchad, Barth to 
go to the Begharmi country. 

Some tribes of Arabs had rebelled against the Turks, 
and he was in some danger while in their hands. Es- 
caping from them, he reached Tripoli in the middle of 
August, and arrived safely in London on September 6, 
1855. 

Although much of the country he had passed over 
was already known, no previous African traveler more 
successfully encountered and overcame the difficulties 
and dangers of a journey through that region. 

The most important result of his adventurous journey 
was the discovery of a large river, hitherto unknown, 
falling into Lake Tchad from the south, and of the 
still larger affluent of the Niger, the Binue, which, rising 
in the far-off centre of the continent, flows through the 
province of Adamawa. 

The courage and perseverance of Dr. Barth, while for 
five years traveling 12,000 miles, amidst hostile and 
savage tribes, in an enervating climate, frequently with 
unwholesome or insufficient food, having ever to keep 
his energies on the stretch to guard himself 'from the 
attack of open foes or the treachery of pretended friends, 
have gained for him the admiration of all who read his 
travels, and place him among the foremost of African 
travelers. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Discoveries of Captains Burton and Speke in 
Central Africa. 

Richard Burton, better known as a traveler by the 
name of Captain Burton, may be regarded as the doyen 
of African travelers. Burton's discovery of Lake Tan- 
ganyika in 1857, started the race for Central African 
exploration, in which he was followed by his fellow- 
traveler on that occasion, Speke, the discoverer of Lake 
Victoria Nyanza, by Grant, the companion of Speke, by 
Samuel Baker, and by Stanley, the ** Prince of African 
travelers/' as Burton acknowledged him to be. 

Captain Burton's name was already familiar to the 
public, especially in India, by his adventurous journey 
to Mecca, where, in the character of one of ** the faith- 
ful," he worshipped at the Kaaba, the shrine of Ma- 
homet, in the eyes of every Mussulman the most sacred 
spot on earth. Burton's adventures on this memorable 
journey had made him a notable man when he under- 
took the exploration of Somaliland, and his pen had al- 
ready found congenial occupation in writing an account 
of the newly acquired province of Scinde, where he had 
served under Napier. 

Besides being, perhaps, the most eminent linguist of 
his age — he was more or less familiar, we believe, with 

(57) 



58 



AFRICAN EXPL ORA TIONS, 



twenty-five languages of Europe, Asia and Africa — he 
has explored many parts of East and West Africa. He 
was the author of numerous books of travel, and was dis- 
tinguished as an archaeologist and man of letters, as his 
work on Etruria, and his translations of Camoens, and 
of **The Thousand and One Nights," prove. Sir Rich- 
ard Burton was one of the most remarkable men of his 
day, and his many-sidedness is shown in his physical 
acquirements, no less than in the points indicated above. 
He is noted as an accomplished swordsman, and his 
book on the sword is a standard work. Altogether, we 
may regard him as a veritable " admirable Crichton." 
He had served in the Indian army, and was regarded 
as a reliable and able officer. Little was known of the 
Somali when he was selected to explore their country 
from Berbera, opposite Aden. 

Burton's companion in his expedition was John Han- 
ning Speke. His career from his i8th year was one 
continuous round of strange and extremely perilous ad- 
venture. Born in 1827, he went to India at the age of 
17, as a lieutenant in the British army, and served in a 
number of general actions. The desperate hazard of 
war was not enough for the uneasy, daring, roving spirit 
of Speke — he must wander into mysterious Tliibet, 
cHmb the great lonely Himalayas, and explore country, 
whenever he could obtain leave, in the intervals of 
peace allowed to the English troops in India in those 
days. 

The enterprise of seeing the towering snow-capped 
Mountains of the Moon, KiHmandjaro and Keina, was 
exactly the thing to suit Speke's taste. Captain Burton 
having received a commission from the Government of 
India to explore the country of the Somalis, in 



i 



f. 




RICHARD BURTON. 



59 



6o AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 

Northeast Africa, and bounded partly by the Gulf of 
Aden, Speke obtained permission to join him. 

Burton, Speke, and two other Europeans of the party, 
Lieutenants Stoyan and Heme, were soon to learn the 
character of some of the natives, in an unpalatable 
fashion. Hardly had they located themselves near Ber- 
bera, when, in the dead of night, they were set upon by 
a body of marauders, the animals bought for caravan 
purposes were taken, while Speke was made captive, 
Stroyan was brutally murdered; Burton and Heme es- 
caping without injury. Speke eluded his captors, and 
running for the sands upon the Gulf of Aden, he and 
his companions were rescued by a passing boat on her 
way to the port of Aden. 

The expedition to the Somali country having been 
formally recalled, Speke hastened to the Crimea. The 
war was then drawing to a close, and he had no oppor- 
tunity to test the strength of Russian steel. It happened, 
as he desired — he was permitted to associate himself 
with the force fitting for exploration in Southeast 
Africa, taking in the Mountains of the Moon. A broad 
and magnificent lake had been spoken of by natives and 
Arab traders, and Captain Burton, given the lead of the 
party, was empowered to inquire, explore, and report, 
as to whether the report was correct or otherwise. On 
December 2i, 1856, Burton and Speke landed at Zanzi- 
bar; not, however, until May, 1857, ^^^ ^^^ ^^" 
pedition fairly launched ; the rainy season and 
illnesses caused inconvenience and delay. 

The objective was Ujiji. It was believed then that the 
town was at the southern end of the great central lake, 
supposed by the way, to be 800 miles long by 350 broad 










n'^ilfflPiiiliiS 



SOMALI MAN. 



6i 



62 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

— wofully under the estimates made at later times, as 
we shall presently see. 

Through the lands of the Wazaramo, the Wakhuta, 
and, extraordinary feature among African natives, the 
long-bearded Waziraha, proceeded the caravan to Zun- 
gomero. The Wazaramo lived in small huts, sur- 
rounded, a number of them together, by strong palisad- 
ing. The men and women bestow devoted attention 
to their hair, twisting it tightly, and using clay and oil 
in the process, while no attention is paid to shielding 
the body beyond wearing a cloth round the loins. The 
Wakhuta and Waziraha are inferior in some respects, 
and take no pride in their dwellings, nor their personal 
appearance. Slavery prevails, though not in its worst 
forms. West of Zungomero, the aspect of the country 
changes — at one time hot springs rise from sandy plains, 
at another there are swamps in which the dregs of fever 
lie, as Burton and Speke found to their cost, a number 
of native porters succumbing, while Burton himself was 
stricken and could only journey on in great pain. To 
render matters worse, carriers begun a dispute as to 
food, and at one place where the leaders expected to 
find a good supply of necessaries, not a particle was to 
be picked up — slave-hunters had been busy and literally 
ruined the village by fire and kidnapping. There was 
some compensation for the travelers, however, at 
Rumuma, where caravans were wont to stop. Food 
was purchased, stores were replenished, and there was a 
resumption of the march under more favorable condi- 
tions, until the Usagara mountain ranges were practi- 
cally left behind, and rest was obtained in Ugogo. 

Men and animals were by this time thoroughly fagged 
out. Burton was far from well, and Speke was pros- 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 



63 



trated. Still, the halt was not a long one — a party of 
Unyamenzi were starting for their homes after serving 
as porters, and as those homes were within easy distance 
of the Mountains of the Moon, the opportunity of 
profiting by the presence of these men was not to be 
lost. They were conversant with the route from Ugogo, 
and had information to impart as to the wonderful snow- 
clad mountains. A start was made in the desired di- 
rection, which took the explorers through Unyamyembe, 
where Stanley and Livingstone were to part 15 years 
afterwards. Barton and Speke were imposed upon by 
petty chiefs until Tura was reached, when a fulsome re- 
ception was accorded them. 

The caravan pushed on, and in September the Unya- 
menzi country, embracing the Mountains of the Moon, 
was actually reached. It is charming in parts, well 
wooded mounds and fertile valleys being conspicuous — 
villages lie clustered '* above the impervious walls of 
milk-bush with its coral-shaped arms, and in rich pas- 
ture lands graze extensive herds of plump, high-humped 
cattle.'* Speke thinks that Unyamenzi must have been 
one of the largest kingdoms in Africa. He refers to the 
people as hereditarily the greatest traders in the conti- 
nent, and as the only people who for love of barter and 
change will leave their own country as porters and go to 
the coast. ^' The whole country ranges nearly 4000 feet 
above the sea level. The natives are generally indus- 
trious, cultivate extensively, make cloths of cotton in 
their own looms, smelt iron, and work it up very ex- 
pertly, and keep flocks and herds to a considerable ex- 
tent. Some of the men are handsome and the women 
pretty." 

At Kaze, in December, Burton and Speke were soon 



64 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 

mixing among the Arab merchants who make the town 
a caravan centre. Offers of help were made to the 
Englishmen, and some valuable information was 
gleaned. Our travelers were assured that Ujiji was not 
upon the southern end of the great lake of which they 
were really in search — that it did not stand upon the 
lake. The vast sheet they desired to explore was farther 
north, and from it ran a river flowing north again. This 
was news indeed. Another wonder. What solution ? 
Burton and Speke had no definite idea then that the 
*' farther lake " was the Victoria Nyanza, and that the 
*' river " flowing north was none other than the mighty 
Nile, whose sources had been for long centuries a secret 
to geographers, and the search for which was to cost 
Livingstone so tremendous an amount of trouble and 
eventually his very life. 

Increasingly curious as to the developments of the 
future, the explorers left Kaze after a stay of three weeks* 
duration — only to be mortified, however, by mutiny 
among the carriers, by the desertion of a number of 
those men they were depending upon to assist them in 
the selection of route, and by inability, for a season, to 
obtain others. The eyes of the leaders were seriously 
affected, and, for a week Burton lay prostrated by an 
illness that threatened his existence. The dawn of the 
year 1858 was a sad one; notwithstanding the travelers 
were marching past the bases of what they beheved to 
be those mountains, word of which had prompted them 
to start upon their journcyings. 

February 13, 1858, was to be a red-letter day, alike 
for the expedition and in the history of geographical 
discovery. Burton had mounted the summit of a rocky 
eminence, when his heart leaped — he beheld the water 



QQ AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

of Tanganyika. In the first place his gaze filled him 
with dismay, he records ; the remains of his blindness, 
the veil of trees, and a broad ray of sunshine illuminat- 
ing but one reach of the lake, had shrunk its fair pro- 
portions. Somewhat prematurely he began to curse 
his folly in having risked life and lost health for so poor 
a prize, and to propose a return to the coast. But ad- 
vancing a few yards, the whole scene burst upon his 
view, filling him with admiration, wonder, and delight. 
Nothing, in sooth, could be more picturesque than this 
first view of Tanganyika Lake, as it lay in the lap of the 
mountains in the gorgeous tropical sunshine, its clear 
waters gleaming against a background of steel-colored 
mountains." To Speke the magnificent spectacle and 
the thrill of delight were denied. He was not far from 
Burton, but was suffering from inflammation of the eyes, 
his vision was dimmed, he was the only one in the 
throng standing within the shadows of what they re- 
garded as the Mountains of the Moon, who could not 
look upon their imposing slopes nor yet upon the waters 
of the vast lake. An amount of keen disappointment 
would have been saved to Speke, had he known that the 
exploration party were not standing anywhere near the 
Mountains of the Moon. These grand, snow-capped 
giants are much farther north ; they are east-southeast 
of the then undiscovered Victoria Lake — not rising from 
the eastern shores of Tanganyika. The explorers 
scarcely realized their true position. 

Boats for the conveyance of the party to Kanele, in 
the Ujiji district, were obtained ; but their reception, 
though pleasing, was followed by the extortions of the 
chief Kannina and his refusal of help towards procuring 
a boat, that the great lake might be explored. A month 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 



67 



was wasted, in an unsuccessful attempt to hire an Arab 
sailing vessel, and it was not until many more days had 
elapsed that two wretched canoes were obtained ; for 
which an exorbitant price had to be paid. With them 
went the chief Kannina. He knew something of a 
river flowing from the mountains into the lake, and 
would show it to them. He refused to continue in their 
company after the arrival at Uvira, at the north-east end 
of the lake— the Warundi regarded him as an enemy, 
and he feared to provoke their hostility. 

All the searching and all the inquiries made by Bur- 
ton and his followers yielded nothing to their view in the 
shape of a river. They were now at the farthest point 
traders were permitted to touch — beyond was a country 
of savages among whom it was advisable not to venture. 
Provisions were short, and the means of barter, and the 
presents were running out. The order was given, there- 
fore, for a return to Ujiji. 

On May 13, Burton and Speke were back at Ujiji, 
whence a return was made to Kaze, and Speke, accom- 
panied by .10 Beloochs and 20 carriers, set out in search 
of the second lake, concerning which information had 
been given by Arabs and traders. Burton was so ill 
that he had to me carried from Ujiji to Kaze, and at the 
latter place he remained during Speke's absence north 
It was a journey beset with trials of patience — bad con- 
duct on the part of the porters, detention by petty chiefs, 
and, by no means least, a detour and a long suspense 
in the new lake region, owing to the prevalence of bitter 
war. 

But the daring and faith of Speke were to be re- 
warded. He was certain, before the end of July arrived, 
that he was approaching another great inland sea ; and 



68 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

on August 3, his eyes were gladdened and his senses 
quickened by the vast expanse of the blue waters of the 
Nyanza or lake, bursting suddenly upon his gaze. He 
had seen its waters, as a fact, on July 30, but in narrow 
creeks. 

Speke, in his book of travels, says : '* The pleasure 
of the mere view vanished in the presence of those 
more intense and exciting emotions which were called up 
by the consideration of the commercial and geograph- 
ical importance of the prospect before me. I no 
longer felt any doubt that the lake at my feet gave birth 
to that interesting river the source of which has been 
the subject of so much speculation and the object of so 
many explorers. The lake is so broad you could not 
see across it, and so long that nobody knew its length." 
The breadth was estimated at 100 miles — as Speke re- 
marks, no one had any idea of its length, more than 
one native seemed to think its termination in the north 
was in the end of the earth. Speke was forced to make 
his way back to Burton without obtaining any concep- 
tion of the area of this the lars^est inland sea of Africa, 
y People at home could scarcely credit Speke's account 
and estimate of this vast lake when he recited them — a 
lake to which he gave the name of '* Victoria," in honor 
of the Oueen of Enc^land. 

Extraordinary, however, as Speke's opinion of the 
Victoria Nyanza seemed, it was no exaggeration. Much 
as he saw, and great as was his estimate of areas unseen, 
what he has stated has actually fallen below the mark. 
Subsequent travelers have sailed its waters and explored 
its banks, but even they have had an inadequate notion 
of its vastness. It has been left to Stanley to give us a 
more correct idea of the tremendous extent of this lake. 



^o 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



Thirty years after its discovery by Speke, he passed its 
southern limits in the company of Emin Pasha, after 
bringing him from the Equatorial province, and says, he 
and his companions then made an unexpected discovery 
of real value in Africa of a considerable extension of 
the Victoria Nyanza to the south-west. The utmost 
southerly reach of this extension is south latitude 20° 48^ 
which brings the water within 155 miles from Lake 
Tanganyika. No one had ever a suspicion of this before. 
He made a rough sketch of it, and found that the area 
of the lake was increased by this the latest discovery to 
26,900 square miles, or just 1 900 square miles larger 
than the reputed exaggerations of Captain Speke* An 
inconceivably wonderful lake, and having possibilities 
we are quite unable to understand ! 

Speke rejoined Burton at Kaze, August 28, and re- 
ported to him his momentous discovery. Circumstan- 
ces prevented a return to the Victoria Nyanza, and a six 
months' march was begun to the coast, Zanzibar being 
the limit reached. 

Again in England, Burton and Speke were the lions 
of the season, and their discoveries formed the main 
theme for geographers for many a day. To Burton were 
awarded the gold medals of the English and French 
Geographical Societies. In the following year he was 
appointed British Consul in Fernando Po. On October 
20, 1890, he closed his varied and eventful career. 

Lady Burton, in the *Mife" of her husband, says: 
** Burton was the pioneer (without money, without food, 
without men, or proper escort, without the bare access- 
aries of life, to dare and do, in spite of every obstacle, 
and every crushing thing, bodily and mentally), who 
opened up that country. It is to him that later followers, 



CENTRAL AFRICA, 



71 



that Grant, and Speke, and Baker, and Stanley, and all 
the other men that have ever followed, owe it that he 
opened the oyster shell for them, and they went in to 
take the pearl. I don't want to detract from any other 
traveler's merits, for they are all brave and great, but I 
will say that if Richard Burton had had Stanley's money, 
escort, luxuries, porterage, and white comrades, backed 
by influence, there would not have been one single 
white spot on the whole map of the great Continent of 
Africa that would not have been filled up. 

** It was the first successful attempt to penetrate that 
country, and laid the foundation for others. It was the 
base on which all subsequent journeys were founded ; 
Livingstone, Cameron, Speke and Grant, Baker and 
Stanley carried it out. During these African explora- 
tions he was attacked with fever 21 times, by temporary 
paralysis, and partial blindness. Tanganyika was Bur- 
ton's discovery. Nyanza was Speke's." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SPEKE AND GRANT AT THE SOURCES OF THE NILE. 

Speke could not rest in England. His adventurous 
spirit was in no sense subdued by the vicissitudes he had 
met among mountain passes of India and Thibet, upon 
the Somali plains, in the Crimea, and in connection with 
three years' exploration in South-east Africa ; he was 
convinced that what he had seen of the Victoria Nyanza 
and in the country of the Mountains of the Moon was 
but a tithe of what might be gleaned thereabouts. 
.There were, he felt sure, immense openings arising from 
a resumption of travel in those regions — elements to 
lead men on to sustained discoveries of greatest impor- 
tance. The scheme Speke had cherished of traveling 
to the sources of the Nile and following it to its very 
outlet far away in North Africa was not forgotten by 
him. And he determined that at all costs he would 
reduce his convictions to the test. If no pubHc body 
would help him, he would go out at his own expense as 
he originally intended, pursue his way, and come out 
victorious, or — perish in the endeavor. 

Speke was not to launch his enterprise unsupported. 

Roderick Murchison was President of the Geographical 

Society, and his active sympathy was enlisted. The 

theory of Captain Speke (he had been promoted in the 

(72) 



74 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 



British Army) that the Nile took its rise in the Victoria 
Nyanza, was favored by many, and they were very anx- 
ious that it should be thoroughly established. Nine 
months elapsed before he left the shores of England, 
as leader of the new expedition. He was somewhat 
disappointed in the amount of money voted him — 
;gi2,500, — and in his vovage to Zanzibar. He could 
not obtain passage thither at the time fixed by him — 
he and an old friend, Captain Grant, who was to ac- 
company him inland, had to take the West African 
coast route to the Cape, and to sail thence for the port 
of debarkation. The time was not wholly lost, how- 
ever. Speke received carbines, ammunition, and instru- 
ments from the Government at home, and, while at the 
Cape, a sum of i^iSOO was set apart by Parliament 
there for the purposes of the expedition, and ten Hot- 
tentot members of the Mounted Rifles w^ere placed at 
his disposal, as well as a corvette for the shipment of 
his party to Zanzibar. On the way there the vessel 
chased and overtook a slave ship, in which were 500 
poor blacks, who were released, when opportunity 
offered. 

Speke and Grant left Zanzibar in August i860, and 
the start eastwards was made from Bagomoyo. Provis- 
ions and articles for presents to native potentates were 
borne in plenty by the blacks. Eleven mules and five asses 
were taken for carrying purposes also. Very soon the 
force was reduced by sickness and desertion, and the 
gaps could not be filled without much trouble and prov- 
ocation. There were 54 Wanguana freed-men, and 
about 20 Zanzibaris as porters, in addition to the" Hot- 
tentots. 

The march was through the flat country of Uzaramo, 



THE SOURCES OF THE NILE. 



75 



through uneven stretches of Usagara, Ugogo, and Un- 
yameuzi, until Lake Victoria was touched upon its 




THE KING ADDRESSING HIS SUBJECTS. 



south-western Hinits. Experiences passing through 
were not of the happiest. There were greedy cliiefs to 
satisfy, porters mutinied and deserted, natives were sus- 



76 



AFRICAN- EXPLORATIONS. 



picious, because they had the impression a slave-raiding 
caravan was approaching ; guides were not to be trusted, 
porters were deceived and robbed, and in one village an 
ilhiess contracted by Speke nearly proved fatal. Grant 
was then at some distance making observations 
and confirming native reports, and before rejoining 
Speke his escort was attacked, stripped of their loads, 
and put to flight. A few only of the loads were re- 
covered. 

But compensation was in store for the travelers who 
had now been fighting against nature, and often against 
savages, for twelve months. Speke and Grant left Usai 
behind and crossed into Karagwe, upon the western 
shores of the Victoria Lake, to find it a land of milk and 
honey. It contained a hitherto undiscovered lake, to 
which Speke gave the name of Little Windermere. 
Upon the very borders of Karagwe the badly-used, re- 
duced explorers were met by messengers sent by Ru- 
manika, the king, to accord them hearty welcome, and 
to offer them the best food and liquor in the land. 

Speke says, ** To do royal honors to the king of this 
charming land, I ordered my men to put down their loads 
and fire a volley. Here we saw, sitting cross-legged 
upon the ground, Rumanika and his brother Nnanaji, 
both of them men of noble appearance and size. The 
king was plainly dressed in an Arab's black choga, and 
wore for ornament, dress stockings of rich-colored 
beads, and neatly-worked wristlets of copper. At their 
sides lay huge pipes of black clay. The king and his 
brother had fine oval faces, large eyes and high noses, 
denoting the best blood of Abyssinia." The curiosity 
of the monarch as to how the explorers had found their 
way into his kingdom had to be satisfied, time flying 



THE SOURCES OF THE NILE. 



77 



" like magic " until the shades of evening fell and ro\ alty 
and visitors separated, the latter to choose their own 
camping-ground amid charming scenery. 

Throughout a month's intercourse with Rumanika, 
Speke experienced nothing save pleasure. Hunting, 
exploring, inquiring into the customs of the people, 
resting, day succeeded day all. too quickly. When, 
however, a message came from the mighty Mtesa, 
king of Uganda, in January (1862), that he would re- 
ceive the travelers, and the protection of Arab traders 
could be had, Speke was compelled to bid good-bye to 
Rumanika and his weli-disposed people. Grant w^as too 
ill to be moved. After the lapse of a month, Speke 
neared Mtesa's capital. Like Rumanika, he sent cour- 
iers to welcome the explorer, and to promise to make 
him comfortable. 

Speke's first view of the capital presented a magnifi- 
cent sight — a whole hill was covered with gigantic huts 
such as he had never seen in Africa before. " I pre- 
pared for my first presentation at court," says Speke in 
his account of the reception by Mtesa, ''though I cut 
a sorry figure in comparison with the display of the 
dressy Waganda. They had head-dresses, and were 
rich in ornaments. A number of the four hundred 
wives kept by Mtesa stood in little groups gazing upon 
us. Courtiers of high dignity stepped forward to greet 
me, dressed in the most scrupulously neat fashions. 
Men, women, bulls, dogs, and goats were led about by 
strings; cocks and hens were carried in men's arms; 
and little pages, with rope-turbans, rushed about, con- 
veying messages, as if their lives depended on their 
swiftness, everyone holdincr his skin cloak ticj-htlv round 
him lest his naked legs might by accident be shown. 



78 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



" The mighty king was sitting on his throne. He 
was a good-looking, well-figured, tall young man of 
twenty-five, sitting on a red blanket spread upon a 
square platform of royal grass, encased in tiger-grass 
reeds. The hair of his head was cut short, excepting 
on the top, where it was combed up into a high ridge, 
running from stem to stern like a cockscomb. The 
king wore many ornaments, principally of brass and 
copper. He was very affable and our interview was 
very satisfactory." 

Speke appears to have taken Mtesa^s fancy. Proba- 
bly his presents had much to do with it. A healthy 
spot was fixed upon for Speke's abode, food in plenty 
was set apart for him, and on many days Mtesa ac- 
companied him on hunting expeditions. So fond, in- 
deed, was the king of Speke, that he would not hear of 
him leaving his dominions, and for more than four 
months our hero was compelled to stay in the neighbor- 
hood of the court. All was not pleasant to Speke of 
course. Mtesa showed distinct traits of cruelty. He 
thought nothing of ordering subjects off to grinding, 
lingering tortures and to execution ; to treat them as 
beasts, and to countenance dailv sacrifices of human 
beings. At times Speke's blood was roused and he 
dared to appeal to the monarch for clemency ; nor were 
his desires always unheeded*. With the queen-dowager, 
Speke was much of a favorite — she bestowed two wives 
upon him as a signal mark of favor, but to his disgust. 

Speke's detention was a source of great annoyance to 
him. Through one channel only was there any pros- 
pect of release. Mtesa desired to open up his country 
to trade, and as Speke conversed with him repeatedly 
of the constant trading operations upon the Nile right 




MTESA S RESIDENCE IN UGANDA. 



8o AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 

away north and east from Khartoum through the Sou- 
dan to the Red Sea, and of the impetus that would be 
given to it by extension to Uganda, if he, Speke, were 
permitted to go and relate all that he had seen in the 
kingdom, Mtesa began to think that perhaps the best 
course would be to allow the- visitor to depart. He 
promised that the departure of Speke and his men 
should not be long delayed. This rejoiced Speke, and 
Grant arriving at the capital under an escort of Mtesa's 
men, his pleasure was unbounded. 

The end came with the dawn of July 7, when Speke 
and Grant and their faithful henchmen bade farewell to 
Mtesa, bearing with them a large quantity of ivory for 
trade. Grant was too unwell to proceed rapidly, and it 
was decided that he and a portion of the caravan should 
march slowly to the west into Ungoro. Speke made 
for the head of the Victoria Lake, and on July 19, his 
was the magnificent reward of standing upon the banks 
of old Father Nile. Speke describes the scene as most 
beautiful. ** Nothing could surpass it. It was tiie very 
perfection of the kind of effect aimed at in a highly-kept 
park, with a magnificent stream about 700 yards wide, 
dotted with islets and rocks — the former occupied by 
fishermen*s huts, the latter by sterns and crocodiles 
basking in the sun — flowing between high grassy banks 
with rich trees and plantains in the background, where 
herds of hartbeests could be s>^tx\ grazing, while tin? 
hippopotami were snorting in the water, and florikan 
and guinea-fowl, rising at our feet." A few trials more, 
— now in thick jungle, anon crossing streams and rapids, 
and among wondering and suspicious natives, and Speke 
was thrilled by the fact that he was standing near the 
head of a series of charming falls constituting the outlet 



82 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

of the Victoria Nyanza and the principal source of old 
Father Nile. Here was a grand discovery indeed — one 
denied to all other Europeans throughout the ages in 
spite of unwearied searchings. 

To the falls Speke gave the name of " Ripon." 
** Though beautiful, the scene was not exactly what I 
expected," Speke writes in his book, *' for the broad 
surface of the lake was shut out from view by a spur of 
hill, and the falls, about twelve feet deep and 500 feet 
broad, were broken by rocks. Still it w^as a sight that 
attracted one to it for hours.*' Thence upon the bosom 
of the Nile, upon roughly constructed boats, Speke and 
his party sailed northwards for some days, to leave the 
water, after being attacked by Wanyoro, and to rejoin 
Grant, and, subsequently, the whole united caravan en- 
tered Unyoro and stood before the capital of the king, 
Kamrasi, who had sent the presents of fowls and plan- 
tains in token of friendship. 

Like the monarch of Uganda, the king of Unyoro 
was surrounded by courtiers, but there was a lack of 
imposing ceremony. Kamrasi sat upon a stool when 
receiving the strangers, but there was a variety of dressed 
skins about and around him, and his ornaments were 
profuse. Speke's chronometer was a special object of 
envy to Kamrasi. They got on fairly well with Kamrasi, 
aroused his curiosity by presenting him with a Bible, 
spoke to him of trade, and delighted him by their prow- 
ess in the hunting-field. Hearing that the servants of 
Petherick, the noted English trader upon the Nile, south 
of Khartoum, was in the neighborhood of Gondokoro, 
in what has since been known as the Equatorial, or 
Emin's province of the Soudan, Speke and Grant were 
delighted beyond measure. Nearly two years had 



THE SOURCES OF THE NILE. 



83 



elapsed since they saw a third white man, and as they 
were still 2000 miles from the mouth of the Nile, it may 
be imagined how eagerly both looked forward to the 
meeting. 

Starting from Kamrasi's palace at last, Speke and his 




A GROUP OF GANI AND MADI. 



followers headed for the Nile banks, trusted themselves 
to the Nile waters again, passed the Karuma Falls, and 
through what is known as the Kidi Wilderness, and on 
November 29, the conical huts of the naked Koki in 
Gani were sighted, then the Madi, to be known here- 



84 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 



after by Samuel Baker, Gordon, and Emin Pasha, were 
seen, and the outpost of civilization, garrisoned by ir- 
regular troops in the pay of the Egyptian Government, 
was reached with feelings of profound gratitude, news 
of Petherick being a short distance away heightening the 
joy of the explorers. Egyptian rule as understood in 
the Soudan territory had become hateful and fearful to 
the natives, not a few of whom fled as Speke and his 
men advanced, not feeling safe by any means in their 
company. They could not know that the travelers 
were not plunderers. In February (1863), Gondokoro, 
then little more than a cluster of huts, still a trading 
station of some importance upon the White Nile, came 
in view, small sailing craft and dhows were seen, and to 
the unspeakable delight of Speke and Grant, Samuel 
Baker appeared in the midst of a throng of people to 
accord them the very heartiest congratulations at an 
escape from what he and many others believed would 
have been certain death in the vast lake regions. Baker 
had ascended the Nile thus far in search of Speke and 
Grant, and was prepared to go much farther. Petherick 
was at the moment 70 miles away, and did not come in 
for some time afterwards. 

While Baker went exploring south-west, one result 
of which was the discovery of the Albert Nyanza — 
Speke and Grant took a voyage down the Nile to Khar- 
toum. This took a month. On April 15, they were 
aboard a sailing vessel bound for Berber, whence they 
joined a caravan across the desert to Korosko, and took 
Nile boats for Cairo, where they arrived at the latter 
end of May, 1863. It was at Cairo that the '' faithfuls " 
and Speke and Grant separated. The former were ** paid 
off" and sent coastwise to their homes, via Zanzibar, 



THE SOURCES OF THE NILE. 



8S 



in charge of Bombay — the two Englishmen returning 
to England, after an absence of four years and eight 
months, to be deservedly honored on every hand. 

Captain Speke did not live long to enjoy his wonder- 
ful successes. He died September 15, 1864, from the 
effects of wounds received by him accidentally while out 
shooting. He was then but 38 years old. 

Although not, as he supposed, the discoverer of the 
remotest source of the Nile, Speke was undoubtedly 
the first European who saw the Victoria Nyanza, while 
the adventurous and hazardous journey he and Grant 
performed together, places them in the front rank of 
African travelers. They opened up an extensive and 
rich district hitherto totally unknown, and made many 
important discoveries. 

Captain Speke was the first to traverse the territories 
of those savage potentates, M'wanga, Mtesa and Kam- 
rasi. The names of Uganda, Unyoro, the Somerset 
Nile, the Ripon and Karuma Falls, are now familiar in 
our mouths, and among the honored names of Great 
African Travelers, that of Speke, and in a lesser degree, 
of his accomplished companion, Grant, will ever hold a 
prominent place. 



CHAPTER IX. 

DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 

David Livingstone was born at Blantyre, near Glas- 
gow, Scotland, about the year 1 8 17. He worked in a 
cotton factory in his youth ; and studied medicine and 
theology, with an intention to labor as a missionary, 
and was sent by the London Missionary Society to 
South Africa, in 1840. He landed at Cape Town, and 
for the next sixteen years of his life (to 1856) he 
labored in medical and missionary efforts for the good 
of the people, without any cost to them. 

Up to this time the explorers of Africa had confined 
tlieir travels to the north-western regions; they had 
traversed the Niger to its mouth, they had visited Tim- 
buctoo, sailed on Lake Tchad, and crossed the continent 
from the Gulf of Benin to the Mediterranean. Every- 
where the Europeans had passed through scenes of 
horror caused by the slave-hunters ; ruined towns, de- 
populated districts, roads lined with skeletons, and car- 
avans of nesfroes drasfSfed from their homes to be sold. 

From Cape Town, he went round to Algoa Bay, 
where he proceeded about 800 miles into the interior to 
Kuruman, the missionary station of the Rev. R. Moffatt, 
whose daughter he afterwards married. 

He went on to Lepole, where he spent six months 
(86) 



38 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 

learning the language and habits of the Bakwains. These 
people being driven by another tribe from their country, 
he was unable to form a station at that place. He was 
more successful at Mabotsa, also inhabited by the Bak- 
wains, to which place he removed in 1843. It was here, 
while chasing a lion, that he nearly lost his life. He 
had fired both barrels of his gun, and was reloading 
when the lion, though desperately wounded, sprang 
upon him, catching his shoulder, both man and beast 
coming to the. ground together. Growling horribly, 
the fierce brute shook him as a " terrier dog does a rat." 
The gun of his companion missed fire, when the lion, 
leaving Livingstone, attacked him. Another native came 
up with a spear, when the lion pounced on him ; but 
the bullets at that moment taking effect, the fierce brute 
fell down dead. *' Besides crunching the bones into 
splinters, he left eleven teeth wounds upon the upper 
part of my arm." The wounds soon healed, but to the 
end of his life he occasionally felt the effects of the 
knawing he had received. 

The chief of the Bakwains, Sechele, became a Chris- 
tian, and exerted himself for the conversion of his peo- 
ple. The Dutch Boers (or farmers), who had pushed 
forward to the confines of the country, proved, however, 
most adverse to the success of the mission, by carrying 
off the natives and forcing them to labor as slaves. 

By the advice of Dr. Laidley, Sechele and his people 
moved to the Kolobeng, a stream about 200 miles to the 
north of Kuruman, where Livingstone formed a station. 
He here built a house with his own hands, having 
learned carpentering and gardening from Mr. Moffatt, 
as also blacksmith's work. He had now become handy 
at almost any trade, in addition to doctoring and preach- 



DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 



89 



ing, and as his wife could make candles, soap and clothes, 
they possessed what may be considered the indispensa- 
ble accomplishments of a missionary family in Africa. 




DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 



Among the visitors to the station was Mr. Oswell, who 
deserves to take rank as an African traveler. Hearing 
that Livingstone purposed crossing the Kalahari Desert 



90 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

'in search of the great Lake Ngami, he came from India 
on purpose to join him, accompanied by Mr. Murray, 
volunteering to pay the entire expenses of the guides. 

The Kalahari, though called a desert from being com- 
posed of soft sand and being destitute of water, at this 
time supported prodigious herds of antelopes, while 
numbers of elephants, rhinoceros, lions, hyaenas, and 
other animals roamed over it They find support 
from the astonishing quantity of grass which grows in 
the region, as also from a species of water-melon, and 
tuberous roots. 

Such was the desert Livingstone and his party pur- 
posed crossing when they set out with their wagons on 
June I, 1849, f^om Kolobeng, They traversed 300 
miles of desert, when at the end of a month, they reached 
the banks of the Zonga, a large river, richly fringed with 
fruit-bearing and other trees, many of them of gigantic 
growth, running north-east towards Lake Ngami. They 
were cordially received by the peace-loving inhabitants 
of its banks. 

Leaving the wagons in charge of the natives, Living- 
stone embarked in one of their canoes. Frail as are 
the canoes of the natives, they make long trips in them, 
and manage them with great skill, often standing up 
and paddling with long, light poles. They thus daringly 
attack the hippopotami in their haunts, or pursue the 
swift antelope which ventures to swim across the 
river. After voyaging on the stream for twelve days, 
they reached the broad expanse of Lake Ngami. 
Though wide, it is very shallow and brackish during 
the rainy season. They here heard of some large rivers 
flowing into the lake. 

Livingstone's main object in coming was to visit 



DAVID LIVINGSTONE. qj 

Sebituane, the great chief of the Makololo, who live 
about 200 miles to the northward. The chief of the 
district refused either to give them goods or allow them 
to cross the river. The season being far advanced, they 
returned to Kolobeng, Mr. Oswell going down to the 
Cape to bring up a boat for the next season. 

Half of the premium for the. encouragement of geo- 
graphical science and discoveries was awarded to Liv- 
ingstone for the discoveries he made on this journey. 

Sechele, the Christian chief of the Bakwains, offered 
his services, and with him as a guide, accompanied by 
Mrs. Livingstone and their three children, they set out, 
in April, 1850, taking a more easterly course than before! 
They again reached the lake, but most of the party 
being attacked by fever, the design of visiting Sebituane 
was abandoned. 

The third journey, was begun in the Spring of 185 1. 
First traveling north, and then to the north-east, through 
a region covered with baobab-trees, abounding with 
springs, and inhabited by Bushmen, they entered an 
arid and .difficult country. Here, the supply of water 
being exhausted, great anxiety was felt for the children, 
who suffered greatly from thirst. At length a small 
stream, the Mababe, was reached, running into a marsh, 
across which they had to make their way. During the 
night they traversed a region infested by the tsetse'^^ fly 
not much larger than the common house-fly, the bite of 
which destroys cattle and horses. It is remarkable that 
neither man, wild animals, nor even calves as long as 
they continue to suck, suffer from the bite of this fear- 
ful pest. While some districts are infested by it, others 
m the immediate neighborhood are free, and, as it does 
not bite at night, the only way the cattle of travelers 



Q2 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

can escape is by passing quickly through the infested 
district before the sun is up. Sometimes the natives 
lose the whole of their cattle by its attacks, and 
travelers frequently have been deprived of all means 
of moving with their wagons. Having reached the 
Chobe, a large river which falls into the Zambesi, 
leaving their attendants camped with the cattle on an 
island, Livingstone and his family, with Oswell, em- 
barked in a canoe, and went down about 20 miles to 
an island, where Sebituane was waiting to recieve them. 
The chief, pleased with the confidence Livingstone 
had show^n in bringing his wife and children, promised 
to take them to see his country, that they might choose 
a spot to form a missionary station. He had been at 
war nearly all his life, with the neighboring savage 
tribes, but had got himself in a secure position behind 
the Chobe and Leeambye, whose broad streams 
guarded him from the inroads of his enemies. He 
had more subjects and was richer in cattle than any 
chief in that part of Africa. The rivers and swamps, 
however, of the region produced fever, which proved 
fatal to many of his people. He was anxious for inter- 
course with Europeans, and showed every wish to en- 
courage those who now visited him to remain in his 
territory. A few days later the chief was attacked with 
inflammation of the lungs, and in a short time breathed 
his last. Before his death he expressed the hope that 
the English would be as friendly to his children as they 
had been to himself. The chieftainship devolved on a 
daughter, who gave the visitors leave to travel through 
any part of the country they chose. They accordingly 
set out, and traversing 130 miles to the north-east, 



DAVID LIVINGSTONE, 



93 



reached the banks of the Zambesi, the chief river of 
Southern Africa. 

From the prevalence of the tsetse^ and the periodical 
rise of the numerous streams causing malaria, Living- 
stone was compelled to abandon the intention he had 
formed of removing the Bakvvain people thither tJiat 




I. THE TSETSE. 2. THE SAME MAGNIFIED. 3. THE PROBOSCIS. 

they might be out of the reach of their rapacious neigh- 
bors, the Dutch Boers. The river was, he at once saw, 
the key of Southern Africa. This was a most impor- 
tant discovery, for that river was not previously known 
to exist there. 

The magnificent stream, on the bank of which he now 
stood, flows hundreds of miles east to the Indian Ocean 



g . AFRICA]^ EX PL ORA TIONS. 

— a mighty artery supplying life to the teeming popu- 
lation of that part of Africa. 

Living-stone determined to send his wife and children 
to England, and to return himself and spend two or 
three years in the new region he had discovered, in the 
hopes of evangelizing the people and putting a stop to 
the trade in slaves, which had begun even thus far from 
the coast. 

He returned to Kolobeng, and then set out with his 
family, a journey of lOOO miles, to Cape Town. Phicing 
them on board a homeward-bound ship, he turned his 
face northward in June, 1852. 

As Livingstone's chief object was to select a spot for 
a settlement, he ascended, accompanied by Sekeletu, 
the great River Zambesi, the upper courses of which he 
had traversed in the year 185 i. 

From Linyanti Livingstone set out on his journey 
westward to Loanda, on the West Coast, and, on his 
return, commenced from thence that adventurous ex- 
pedition to the East Coast, which resulted in so many 
important discoveries. 

Recovering from his fever, Livingstone, accompanied 
by Sekeletu and about 160 attendants, set out for 
Sesheke. They passed numerous mounds, the work of 
termites or white ants ; which are literally gigantic 
structures, and often wild date-trees were seen growing 
on them. 

Livingstone had a little gipsy tent in which he slept, 
though the Makololo huts, which are kept tolerably 
clean, afforded the party accommodation. The best sort 
of hut consists of three circular walls, having small 
holes to serve as doors, through which it is necessary 
to creep on all fours. The roof resembles in shape a 



DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 



95 



Chinaman's hat, and is bound together with circular 
bands. The framework is first formed, and it is then 




HOUSE-BUILDING. 



h'fted to the top of the circle of poles prepared for sup- 
porting it. 

The roof is covered with fine grass and sewed with 



q5 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

the same material as the lashings. Women are the 
chief builders of huts among the Makololo. 

Reaching the village of Katonga, on the banks of the 
Leeambye, some time was spent there in collecting 
canoes. ' During this delay Dr. Livingstone visited the 
country to the north of the village, where he saw large 
herds of buffaloes, zebras, and elans. He was enabled, 
by this hunting expedition, to supply his companions 
with an abundance of food, 

A sufficient number of canoes being collected, they 
began the ascent of the river. Livingstone's canoe had 
six paddlers, while Sekeletu's had ten. The men 
paddled standing upright, and kept stroke with great 
exactness. Being flat-bottomed, they can float in very 
shallow water. The fleet consisted altogether of 33 
canoes and 160 men. 

During this nine weeks* tour Livingstone took a more 
intense disgust of heathenism than he had ever before 
felt, and formed a higher opinion of the civilizing effects 
of the missions in the south among tribes which were 
once as savage as the Makololo. 

Returning down the stream at a rapid rate, they 
quickly reached Linyanti. 

The chief agreeing that the object of Livingstone's 
expedition to the west was desirable, took pains to assist 
him. A band of- 27 men were to accompany him by 
the chief's command, whose desire was to obtain a free 
and profitable trade with the white men, and this, Living- 
stone was convinced, would lead to their elevation and 
improvement. 

As they approached the sea, the Makololo gazed at 
it, s[)reading out before them, with feelings of awe, 
having before believed that the whole world w^as one 



98 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



extended plain. They again showed their fears that 
they might be kidnapped, but Livingstone reassured 
them, telHng them as they had stood by each other 
hitherto, so they would do to the last. 

On May 31, they descended a declivity leading to the 
city of Loanda, where Livingstone was warmly welcomed 
by Mr. Gabriel, the British commissioner for the sup- 
pression of the slave trade. Seeing him so ill, he offered 
his bed to him. ** Never shall I forget," says Living- 
stone, '' the luxurious pleasure I enjoyed in feeling my- 
self again on a good couch, after for six months sleep- 
ing on the ground." 

It took many days before he recovered, from the ex- 
posure and fatigue he had endured. All that time he 
was watched over with the most generous sympathy by 
his kind host. 

His men, while he was unable to attend to them, em- 
ployed themselves in going into the country and cutting 
firewood, which they sold to the inhabitants of the town. 
Mr. Gabriel also found them employment in unloading 
a collier, at sixpence a day. They continued at this 
work for upwards of a month, astonished at the vast 
amount of '' stones that burn " which were taken out 
of her. With the money they purchased clothing, 
beads and other articles to carry home with them. 

From the kind and generous treatment Livingstone 
received from the Portuguese, they rose deservedly high 
in his estimation. 

He now prepared for his departure. The merchants 
sent a present to Sekeletu, consisting of specimens of 
all their articles of trade and two donkeys, that the breed 
might be introduced into his country, as the tsetse can- 
not kill those beasts. Livingstone was furnished with 



DAVID LIVINGSTONE, 



99 



letters of recommendation to 
the Portuguese authorities in 
Eastern Africa. 

They were now accom- 
panied by their Portuguese 
friends, the Londa people, 
who inhabit the banks of the 
Loajima. 

They elaborately dress 
their hair in a number of 
ways. It naturally hangs 
down on their shoulders in 
large masses, which, with 
their general features, gives 
them a strong resemblance 
to the ancient Egyptians. 





men's head-dresses. 



Some of them twist their hair into a number of small 
cords, which they stretch out to a hoop encircling the 



IQO AFRICAN EXPLORA TIOMS, 

head. Others adorn their heads with ornaments of 
woven hair and hide, to which they suspend the tails 
of buffaloes. Some weave the hair on pieces of hide 
in the form of buffalo horns, projecting on either side 
of the head. The young men twine their hair in 
the form of a single horn, projecting over their fore- 
head in front. They frequently tattoo their bodies, 
producing figures in the form of stars. Although their 
heads are thus elaborately adorned, their bodies are 
almost naked. 

Reaching Calongo, Livingstone directed his course 
towards the territory of his old friend, Katema ; which 
they reached on June 2. 

They now took their way across the level plain, which 
had been flooded on their former journey. Vultures 
were flying in the air, showing the quantity of carrion 
which had been left by the waters. 

They passed Lake Dilolo, a sheet of water six or 
eight miles long and two broad. The sight of the blue 
waters had a soothing effect on Livingstone, who was 
suffering from fever, after his journey through the 
gloomy forest and across the wide flat. 

Old Shinti, whose capital they now reached, received 
them in a friendly way, and supplied them with provi- 
sions. They left with him a number of plants, among 
which were orange, cashew, custard, apple, and fig-trees, 
with coffee, acacias, and papaws, which he had brought 
from Loanda. They were planted out in the enclosure 
of one of his principal men, with a promise that Shinti 
should have a share of them when grown. 

They now again embarked in six small canoes on the 
waters of the Leeba. Paddling down it, they next en- 
tered the Leeambye. Here they found a party of hunt- 



JQ2 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 

ers, who had been engaged in stalking buffaloes, hippo- 
potami, and other animals. 

On reaching the town of Lebouta they were welcomed 
with joy, the women coming out, dancing and singing, 
Livingstone now heard that the trading party which set 
out, reached Loanda in safety, and it must have been a 
great satisfaction to him to feel that he had thus opened 
out a way to the enterprise of these industrious and in- 
telligent people. 

The donkeys which had been brought excited much 
admiration, and, as they were not affected by the bite 
of the tsetse, it was hoped that they might prove of great 
use. Their music, however, startled the inhabitants 
more than the roar of lions. 

Arrangements were now made for performing another 
adventurous journey to the East Coast. 

As soon as Livingstone announced his intention of 
proceeding to the east, numerous volunteers came for- 
ward to accompany him. From among them he se- 
lected 114 trustworthy men. They sailed down the 
river to its confluence with the Chobe ; reaching this spot, 
they prepared to strike across country to the north- 
east, in order to reach the northern bank of the Zam- 
besi. Before doing so, Livingstone determined to visit 
the Victoria Falls, of which he had often heard. The 
meaning of the word is : *' Smoke does sound there," in 
reference to the vapor and noise produced by the falls. 
After twenty minutes' sail from Kalai, they came in 
sight of five columns of vapor, appropriately called 
*' smoke," rising at a distance of five or six miles off, 
and bending as they ascended before the wind, the tops 
appearing to mingle with the clouds. The scene was 
beautiful. The banks and the islands which appeared 



I04 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 

here and there amid the stream, were richly adorned with 
trees and shrubs of various colors, many being in full 
blossom. High above all rose an enormous baobab- 
tree, surrounded by groups of graceful palms. 

As the water was now low, they proceeded in the 
canoe to an island in the centre of the river, the further 
end of which extended to the edge of the falls. At the 
spot where they landed it was impossible to discover 
where the vast body of water disappeared. It seemed 
suddenly to sink into the earth, for the opposite lip of 
the fissure into which it descends was only eighty feet 
distant. On peering over the precipice the doctor saw 
the stream, looo yards broad, leaping down lOO feet 
and then becoming suddenly compressed into a space of 
20 yards, when, instead of flowing as before, it turned di- 
rectly to the right, and went boiling and rushing amid 
the hills. 

The vapor which rushes up from this caldron to the 
height of 300 feet,»being condensed, changes its hue to 
that of dark smoke, and then comes down in a constant 
shower. The chief portion falls on the opposite side of 
the fissure, where grow a number of evergreen trees, 
theij- leaves always wet. The walls of this gigantic 
crack are perpendicular. Livingstone considered these 
falls the most wonderful sight he had beheld. 

Returning to Kalai, the party met Sekeletu, and, 
bidding him a final farewell, set ofif northwards to Le- 
kone, through a beautiful country, on November 20. 
The farther they advanced the more the country 
swarmed with inhabitants, and great numbers came to 
see the white men, invariably bringing presents of 
maize. 

The natives of this region have a curious way of 



DAVID LIVINGSTONE. I05 

saluting a stranger. Instead of bowing they throw them- 
selves on their backs on the ground, rolling from side to 
side and slapping the outsides of their thighs, while 
they utter the words, '' Kina bomba! kina bomba!''' 
In vain Livingstone implored them to stop. They, 
imagining him pleased, only tumbled about more fiercely 
and slapped their thighs with greater vehemence. These 
villagers supplied the party with ground-nuts, maize and 
corn. 

The inhabitants of the north side of the Zambesi are 
the Batonga ; those on the south bank, the Banyai. 

At each village they passed, two men were supplied 
to conduct them to the next, and lead them through the 
parts least covered with jungle. 

The villagers were busily employed in their gardens. 
Most of the men have muscular ficrures. Their color 
varies from a dark to a light olive. The women have 
the extraordinary custom of piercing the upper lip, and 
gradually enlarging tiie orifice till a ring can be inserted. 
The lip appears drawn out beyond the nose, and gives 
them a very ugly appearance. As Sekwebu remarked : 
** These women want to make their mouths like those 
of ducks." The commonest of these rings are made- of 
bamboo, but others are made of ivory or metal. 

The favorite weapon of the Banyai is a huge axe, 
which is carried over the shoulder. It is used chiefly 
for hamstringing the elephant. 

Those curious birds, the ** honey guides," were very 
attentive to them, and, by their means, the Makololo 
obtained an abundance of honey. Of the wax, however, 
in those districts no use appears to be made. 

It was not till March 20 that Tete was reached. 
Livingstone was then so prostrated that, though only 



1 06 AFRICAN EXPL ORA TIONS, 

eight miles from it, he could proceed no farther. He 
forwarded the letters of recommendation he received in 
Angola to the commandant. The following morning a 
conTpany of soldiers with an officer arrived, bringing the 
materials for a civilized breakfast, and a litter in which 
to carry him. He felt so greatly revived by the break- 
fast that he was able to walk the whole way. 

Tete is a mere village, built on a slope reaching to 
the water, close to which the fort is situated. There 
are about' thirty European houses ; the rest of the build- 
ings, inhabited by the natives, are of wattle and daub. 

Formerly, besides gold-dust and ivory, large quanti- 
ties of grain, coffee, sugar, oil and indigo were exported 
from Tete, but, on the establishment of the slave-trade, 
the merchants found a more speedy way of becoming 
rich by selling off their slaves, and the plantations and 
gold-washings were abandoned, the laborers having 
been exported to the Brazils. Many of the white men 
then followed their slaves. After this, a native of Goa, 
Nyaude by name, built a stockade at the confluence 
of the Luenya and Zambesi, took the commandant of 
Tete, who attacked him, prisoner, and sent his son 
Bonga with a force against that town and burned it. 
Others followed his example, till commerce, before 
rendered stagnant by the slave-trade, was totally ob- 
structed. 

The forests in the neighborhood abound with elephants, 
and the natives attack them in the boldest manner. Only 
two hunters sally forth together— one carrying spears, 
the other an axe of a peculiar shape, with a long handle. 
As soon as an elephant is discovered, the man with the 
spears creeps among the bushes in front of it, so as to 
attract its attention, during which time the axe-man 



I08 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 

cautiously approaches from behind, and with a sweep 
of his formidable weapon, severs the tendon of the 
animal's hock. The huge creature, now unable to 
move, in spite of its strength and sagacity falls an easy 
prey to the two hunters. 

Among other valuable productions of the country is 
found a tree allied to the cinchona. The Portuguese 
believe that it has the same virtues as quinine. 

After waiting about six weeks at QuilHmane, an 
English brig arrived, on board of which Livingstone 
embarked. 

Having been three and a half years, with the excep- 
tion of a short interval in Angola, without speaking 
English, and for thirteen but partially using it, Living- 
stone found the greatest difficulty in expressing himself 
on board the ship. 

The brig sailed on July 12, for the Mauritius, which 
was reached on August 12. 

After remaining some time at the Mauritius, till he 
had recovered from the effects of the African fever, our 
enterprising traveler sailed by way of the Red Sea for 
England, which he reached on December 12, 1856, after 
an absence of 16 years ; during which time he had 
traversed I i,ooo miles, and crossed the continent from 
west to east. 

Livingstone, in the series of journeys which have 
been described, had accomplished more than any pre- 
vious traveler in Africa, besides having gained informa- 
tion of the greatest value as regards both missionary 
and mercantile enterprise. He had as yet, however, 
performed only a portion of the great work his untiring 
zeal and energy had prompted him to undertake. 



CHAPTER X. 

Dr. Livingstone's Second Expedition to Explore 

THE Zambesi. 

Livingstone passed more than a year in England, 
and on March lo, 1858, sailed in the Pearl, at the head 
of a Government expedition for the purpose of explor- 
ing the Zambesi and the neighboring region. He was 
accompained by Dr. Kirk, his brother, Charles Living- 
stone, and Mr. Thornton ; and Mr. Baines was appointed 
artist to the expedition. 

A small steamer, which was called "Ca^ Ma-Robert, in 
compliment to Mrs. Livingstone, was provided by the 
Government for the navigation of the river. 

The East Coast was reached in May. Running up 
the River Luawe, supposed to be a branch of the Zam- 
besi, the Pearl came to anchor, and the Ma-Robert, 
which had been brought out in sections, was screwed 
together. The two vessels then went together in search 
of the true mouth of the river from which Quillimane 
is some 60 miles distant, the Portuguese having con- 
cealed the real entrance, in order to deceive the English 
cruisers in search of slavers. The crew consisted of 
about a dozen Krumen and a few Europeans. 

On August 17, 1858, the Ma-Roberth^^diXi her voyage 

(109) 



1 1 o AFRICAN EX PL OR A TIONS, 

up the stream for Tete. It was soon found that from 
her furnaces being badly constructed, she was ill adapted 
for the work before her. She soon obtained the name of 
the Asthmatical. 

Tete was reached on September 8. No sooner did 
Livingstone go on shore, than, his Makololo rushed 
down to the water's edge and manifested the greatest 
joy at seeing him. The Portuguese at this place keep 
slaves, whom they treat with tolerable humanity. When 
they can, they purchase the whole of a family, thus tak- 
ing away the chief inducement for running off. 

The expedition, hearing of the Kebrabasa Falls, 
steamed up the river, and on November 14, reached 
Panda Mokua, where the navigation ends, about two 
miles below them. Hence the party started overland, 
by a frightfully rough path among rocky hills, where 
no shade was to be found. At last their guides declared 
that they could go no farther; indeed, the surface of 
the ground was so hot that the soles of the Makololo's 
feet became blistered. The travelers, however, pushed 
on. Passing round a steep promontory, they beheld 
the river at their feet, the channel jammed in between 
two mountains with perpendicular sides, and less than 
fifty yards wide. When the river rises upwards of 80 
feet, as it does in the rainy season,- the cataract might 
be passed in boats. 

After returning to Tete, the steamer went up the 
Shire, January, 1859. The natives, as they passed them, 
collected at their villages in large numbers, armed with 
bows and poisoned arrows, threatening to attack them. 
Livingstone went on shore, and explained to the chief, 
that they had come neither to take slaves nor to fight, 
but wished to open up a path by which his countrymen 



112 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

could ascend to purchase their cotton. On this the 
chief became friendly. 

Their progress was arrested, after steaming up lOO 
miles in a straight line (although, counting the windings 
of the river, double that distance), by magnificent cata- 
racts, to which Livingstone gave the name of the Mur- 
chison Falls, after the President of the Geographical 
Society. 

Rain prevented them making observations, and they 
returned at a rapid rate down the river. A second trip 
up the Shire was made in March. 

They returned to Tete on June 23, 1859, and thence 
proceeded to the Kongone, where they received provi- 
sions from the Persian^ which also took on board their 
Krumen, as they were found useless for land journeys. 
In their stead a crew was picked out from the Makololo, 
who soon learned to work the ship, and who, besides 
being good travelers, could cut wood and required only 
native food. Frequent showers fell on their return 
voyage up the Zambesi, and the vessel being leaky, the 
cabin was constantly flooded. 

A second trip up the Shire was performed in the mid- 
dle of August, when they set out in search of Lake 
Nyassa, about which they had heard. The river, 
though narrow, is deeper than the Zambesi, and more 
easily navigated. On both banks a number of hippo- 
potamus traps were seen. 

The animal feeds on grass alone, its enormous lip 
acting like a mowing machine, forming a path before it 
as it feeds. Over these paths the natives construct 
a trap, consisting of a heavy beam, five or six feet long, 
with a spear head at one end, covered with poison. 
This weapon is hung to a forked pole by a rope which 



114 



AFRICAN EX PL OR A TIONS. 



leads across the path, and is held by a catch, set free as 
the animal treads upon it. A hippopotamus was seen 
which, being frightened by the steamer, rushed on shore 
and ran immediately under one of these traps, when 
down came the heavy beam on its head. 

On August 28, 1859, an expedition, consisting of four 
whites, 36 Makololo, and two guides, left the ship in the 
hope of discovering Lake Nyassa. The natives on the 
road were eager to trade. As soon as they found that 
the strangers would pay for their provisions in cotton 
cloth, women and girls were sent to grind and pound 
meal, and the men and boys were seen chasing scream- 
ing fowl over the village. 

The Highland women of these regions all wear the 
lip-ring. An old chief, when asked why such things 
were worn, replied : " For beauty ; men have beards and 
whiskers, women have none. What kind of a creature 
would a woman be with whiskers and without the 
ring?" 

When, as they calculated, they were about a day's 
march from Lake Nyassa, the chief of the village as- 
sured them that no lake had ever been heard of there, 
and that the River Shire stretched on, as they saw it, to 
a distance of two months, and then came out between 
two rocks which towered to the skies. The Makololo 
looked blank and proposed returning to the ship. 

** Never mind," said Livingstone, '* we will go on and 
see these wonderful rocks." 

Their head man, Massakasa, declared that there must 
be a lake, because it was in the white men's books, and 
scolded the natives for speaking a falsehood. They 
then admitted that there was a lake. 

The expedition moving forward, on September 16, 



• DAVID LIVINGSTONE. Ijc 

1 859. The long-Iooked-for Lake Nyassa was discovered, 
with hills rising on both sides. 

Dr. Kirk and Mr. Rae, the engineer, set off with 
guides to go across the country to Tete, the distance 




PELELE, OR LIP-RING. 



being about lOO miles. From want of water they suf- 
fered greatly, while the tsetse infested the district. 

Livingstone returned in the Ma-Robert once more to 
the Kongone. After this trip, the poor Asthmatical 
broke down completely. 



1 1 6 AFRICAN EXPL OR A TTONS. 

Active preparations were now made for the intended 
journey westward ; cloth, beads and brass wire were 
formed into packages, with the bearer's name printed 
on each. 

The Makololo who had been employed by the expe- 
dition received their wages. Some of those who had 
remained at Tete had married, and resolved to continue 
where they were. 

All arrangements had been concluded by May 15, 
i860, and the journey was begun. On August 4, the 
expedition reached Moachemba, the first of the Batoka 
villages which owe allegiance to Sekeletu. From 
thence, beyond a beautiful valley, the columns of vapor 
rising from the Victoria Falls, upwards of 20 miles 
away, could clearly be distinguished. 

The travelers landed at the head of Garden Island, 
and, Livingstone peered over the giddy heights at the 
farther end across the chasm. The measurement of the 
chasm was now taken; it was found to be 80 yards 
opposite Garden Island, while the waterfall itself was 
twice the depth of that of Niagara, and the river where 
it went over the rock fully a mile wide. Charles 
Livingstone, who had seen Niagara, pronounced it in- 
ferior in magnificence to the Victoria Falls. 

The Batokas consider Garden Island and another 
farther west as sacred spots, and here, in days gone by, 
they assembled to worship the Deity. 

Zumbo was reached on November I, i860, and Tete 
on the 23d, the expedition having been absent rather 
more than six months. They were glad to find that 
the two English sailors were in good health, and had 
behaved very well ; but their farm had been a failure. 
One night a hippopotamus destroyed their vegetable 



DAVID LIVINGSTONE, 



117 



garden, the sheep ate up their cotton plants, while the 
crocodiles carried off the sheep, and the natives had 
stolen their fowls. 

On December 31, the Pioneer, the steamer which had 
been sent to replace the Astliniatical^ appeared off the 
bar, but the bad weather prevented her entering. At the 
same time two men-of-war arrived, bringing Bishop 
Mackenzie, at the head of the Oxford and Cambridge 
mission to the tribes of the Shire and Lake Nyassa. 
It consisted of six Englishmen and five colored men 
from the Cape. 

Charles Livingstone collected specimens of cotton, 
and upwards of 300 pounds were obtained, at a price of 
a penny a pound, which showed that cotton of a superior 
quality could be raised by native labor alone and that 
but for the slave-trade a large amount might be raised 
in the country. 

Wherever they went they gained the confidence of 
the people, and hitherto the expedition had been very 
successful. No sooner did they come in contact with 
the Portuguese slave-trade than reverses commenced. 
Plundering parties of the Ajavva were desolating the 
land, and a gang had crossed the river with slaves. 

They halted at the village of their old friend, Mpende, 
who supplied them with carriers and informed them that 
a slave party, on its way to Tete, would soon pass 
through his village. Soon afterwards this party, con- 
sisting of a long line of manacled men, women and 
children, escorted by black drivers, armed with muskets, 
adorned with articles of finery, and blowing horns, 
marched by them with a triumphant air. As soon as 
the rascals caught sight of the English, they darted off 
into the forest, with the exception of the leader, who 



1 1 8 AFRICAN EXPL OR A TIONS, 

was seized by the Makololo. He proved to be a slave 
of the late commandant of Tete, and was well known to 
them. He declared that he had bought the slaves ; 
but directly his hands were released he bolted. 

The captives, now kneeling down, expressed their 
thanks by clapping their hands. Knives were soon 
busily at work setting free the women and children. 
It was more difficult to hberate the men, who had 
each his neck in the fork of a stout stick, six or seven 
feet long, and kept in by an iron rod riveted at both 
ends across the throat. A saw did the work. The 
men could scarcely believe what was said, when they 
were told to take the meal they were carrying and cook 
breakfast for themselves and children. Many of the 
latter were about five years of age and under. One of 
them observed to the men : " Those others tied and 
starved us, you cut the ropes, and tell us to eat. What 
sort of people are you ? " 

Eighty-four persons, chiefly women and children, 
were thus liberated; and being told that they might 
go where they liked, they decided on remaining with 
the English. 

Eight others were freed in a hamlet on the road ; but 
another party, with nearly lOO slaves, though followed 
by Dr. Kirk and his four Makololo, escaped. Six more 
captives were soon afterwards liberated, and two slave- 
dealers were detained for the night, but being carelessly 
watched, they escaped. The next day 50 more slaves 
were freed at another village and comfortably clothed. 

Marching forward, on January 22, 1 86 1, news was 
received that the Ajawa were near, burning villages and 
killing the people. 

It was evident that the Ajawa was instigated by the 




MURCHISON FALLS. 



1 20 AFRICAN EX PL OR A TIONS. 

Portuguese agents from Tete. It was possible that they 
might by persuasion be induced to follow the better 
course, but, from their long habit of slaving for the 
Quillimane market, this appeared doubtful. The Bishop 
consulted Livingstone as to whether, should his assist- 
ance be asked against the Ajawa, it would be his duty 
to give it ? He displayed his usual sagacity in his re- 
ply : ** Do not interfere in native quarrels." 

Leaving the members of the mission camped on a 
beautiful spot, near the clear little stream of Magomero, 
the expedition returned to the ship to prepare for their 
journey to Lake Nyassa. 

On August 6, 1 86 1, Livingstone, Kirk and Charles 
Livingstone started in a four-oared gig, with one white 
sailor and 20 Makololo for Nyassa. Carriers were 
easily engaged to convey the boat past the 40 miles of 
the Murchison Cataracts. Several volunteers came 
forward, and the men of one village transported it to 
the next. They passed the little Lake of Pamalombe, 
about ten miles long and five broad, surrounded thickly 
by papyrus. Myriads of mosquitos showed the pres- 
ence of malaria, and they hastened past it. 

Again launching their boat, they proceeded up the 
river, and entered the lake on September 2 1861, greatly 
refreshed by the cool air which came off its wide ex- 
panse of water. The centre appeared to be of a deep 
blue, while the shallow water along the edge was indi- 
cated by its light green color. A little distance from the 
shore the water was 75 feet in depth, but round a grand 
mountain promontory no bottom could be obtained with 
their lead-line of over 200 feet. Lake Nyassa was esti- 
mated to be about 200 miles long, and from twenty to 
sixty broad, and appeared to be surrounded by moun- 




ZULUS. 



121 



122 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

tains, but on the west they were merely the edges of a 
high table-land. 

Nyassa is visited by sudden and tremendous storms. 
Every night they hauled the boat up on the beach ; 
and, had it not been supposed that these storms were 
peculiar to one season, they would have given the 
Nyassa the name of the '* Lake of Storms." 

A dense population exists on the shores of the lake, 
including a tribe of Zulus who came from the south 
some years ago. The people cultivate the soil, grow- 
ing large quantities of rice, sweet potatoes, maize and 
millet. Those at the north end reap a curious harvest. 
Clouds of what appeared to be smoke rising from miles 
of burning grass were seen in the distance. The ap- 
pearance was caused by countless millions of midges, 
called ** kungo '* by the natives. As the boat passed 
through them, eyes and mouth had to be kept closed. 
The people collect these insects by night, and boil them 
into thick cakes, to be eaten as a relish. 

Abundance of fish were caught, some with nets and 
others with hook and line. Women were seen fishing, 
with babies on their backs. Enormous crocodiles were 
seen, but, as they can obtain abundance of fish, they 
seldom attack men. 

The lake tribes appear to be open-handed, and, when- 
ever a net was drawn, fish was always offered. On one 
occasion the inhabitants, on their arrival, took out their 
seine, dragged it, and made their visitors a present of the 
entire haul. The chief treated them with great kindness. 

On the high lands at the northern end, a tribe of Zu- 
lus, known as the Mazitu, make sudden swoops on the 
hamlets of the plains, and carry off the inhabitants and 
burn villages. 



J 24 AFRICAN EXPL ORA TIONS. 

The slave-trade on the lake was pursued with fearful 
activity. A dhow had been built by two Arabs, who 
were running her regularly, crowded with slaves, across 
its waters. Part of the captives were carried to tlie 
Portuguese slave-exporting town of Iboe, while others 
were sent to Kilwa. 

The chiefs showed but little inclination to trade, their 
traffic being chiefly in human chattels. The Consul at 
Zanzibar, stated that 19,000 slaves, from the Nyassa 
country alone, passed at this time annually through the 
custom-house at Zanzibar. 

They, however, represent but a small portion of the 
sufferers. Besides those actually captured, thousands 
were killed and died of their wounds and famine, and 
thousands more perished in internecine war waged for 
slaves with their own clansmen and neighbors. The 
numerous skeletons seen among rocks and woods, by 
the pools, and on the paths of the wilderness, attested 
the awful sacrifice of human life. 

Livingstone saw that a small armed steamer on Lake 
Nyassa could, by furnishing goods in exchange for 
ivory and other products, exercise a powerful influence 
in stopping the traffic in that quarter. 

The expedition had spent from September '2 to 
October 27 in exploring the lake, and their goods 
being now expended, it was found necessary to return 
to the ship. The Zambesi was reached on January II, 

1862. 

On January 30, 1862, the Gorgon arrived, towing the 
brig which brought out Mrs. Livingstone and some 
ladies about to join the University mission, as well as 
the sections of a new iron steamer intended for the 
navigation of Lake Nyassa. The name of Lad^ Nyassa 



DAVID LIVINGSTONE, 



125 



was given to the new vessel. Mrs. Livingstone was 
attacked by fever, and died on April 27, 1862. 

Hoping that the Lady Nyassa might be the means 
of putting a check on the slavers across the lake, they 
hurried on with their work. She was unscrewed below 
the first cataract, and they began to make a road over 
\\\Q portage of 40 miles, by which she was to be carried 
piecemeal. 

Trees had to be cut down and stones removed. The 
first half-mile of road was formed up a gradual slope 
till 200 feet above the river was reached, where a sensi- 
ble difference in the climate was felt. Before much 
progress was made, Dr. Kirk and Charles Livingstone 
were seized with fever, and it was deemed necessary to 
send them home. Soon afterwards Livingstone was 
himself attacked. 

On June 16, the remaining members started for the 
upper cataracts. Cotton of superior quality was seen 
dropping off the bushes, with no one to gather it. The 
huts in several villages were found entire, with mortars 
and stones for pounding and grinding corn, empty corn 
safes and kitchen utensils,water and beer pots untouched, 
but the doors were shut, as if the inhabitants had gone 
to search for roots or fruit and had never returned; 
while in others, skeletons were seen of persons who died 
apparently while endeavoring to reach something to 
allay the gnawings of hunger. 

Several journeys had been made over the poj^tage, 
when, on returning to the ship on July 2, they received 
a despatch from England, directing the return home of 
the expedition. 

Considering the utter devastation caused by the slave- 
hunting, and the secret support given by the Portuguese 



126 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



officials to the slave-traders, notwithstanding the prot- 
estations of their government that they wished to put 
an end to the trade, it was impossible not to agree in 
the wisdom of this determination. 

Altogether in this expedition they traveled 760 miles 
in a straight line, averaging about 15 miles a day, and 
they reached the ship on November i, 1862. where all 
were found in good health and spirits. 

Soured and disappointed at the non-success of the 
expedition, Livingstone now returned to England, where 
he arrived on July 20, 1864. 



k 



CHAPTER XI. 
Travels of Sir Samuel and Lady Baker. 

Samuel Baker came to his majority with a fair edu- 
cation, a Hberal inheritance, which reHeved him from 
any claims of business, and an engrossing spirit of ad- 
venture. 

He was known as an experienced traveler and prac- 
tised sportsman in Ceylon, when, in March, 1861, 
having resolved to devote his energies to the discovery 
of the sources of the Nile, and the exploration of Cen- 
tral Africa, he set forth from England to trace the mys- 
terious river from its mouth. He was accompanied by 
his young wife, who, notwithstanding the dangers and 
difficulties she knew must be encountered, entreated 
permission to be- the companion of his travels. 

The geography of Equatorial Africa had already 
been attacked from several quarters. The problem of 
the Niger had been solved. The traditions concerning 
a vast interior lake had been more than verified, as two 
great lakes had been determined. Speke and Grant 
were already prosecuting the journey which would 
demonstrate the Victoria Nyanza to be the reservoir of 
the White Nile; while Livingstone was at work upon 
the territory farther south and east. The Blue Nile 
was known; that the White Nile was the outlet of the 

(127) 



128 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 



Victoria Nyanza was an accepted theory rather than a 
demonstrated fact, the objective of expeditions already 
afield. The sources of the western tributaries of the 
great river has not yet been determined, and to these 
points Baker addressed himself. 

His first essay was an exploration of territory already 
fairly known, where he carefully mapped the Nile tribu- 
taries of Abyssinia, and served his apprenticeship for 
severer labors. In the last month of 1862 he left Khar- 
toum for an exploration of the upper Nile. After two 
months he met Speke and Grant, who were tracmg 
northward the outlet of the Nyanza, and so much of 
the determination was completed. Pushing his own 
expedition still farther to the southward, he broke mto 
new territory, which he traversed under great diffi- 
culties, until after the toil of a year he was rewarded 
by the discovery of the Albert Nyanza, then believed 
to be second of the great Nile reservoirs. The sub- 
sequent discovery by Stanley of the Albert Edward 
Nyanza, a smaller body of water at a greater elevation, 
whose waters flow through the Albert Lake, has recog- 
nized in the more elevated lake the second source of 
the Nile. With the finding of the Albert Nyanza, 
Baker's labors as a discoverer were substantially closed. 
The second great enterprise undertaken by Baker 
was at the instance of Ismail Pasha, the Khedive of 
E^ypt, and with the authority of the Egyptian Govern- 
ment; it was the herculean task of suppressing the 
slave-trade within the jurisdiction of Egypt. 

The year 1869 saw the inauguration of the Suez 
Canal, and the high tide of apparent Egyptian prosperity. 
The eyes of the world were upon the rejuvenated king- 
dom of the Pharaohs. The Khedive, dazzled by the 



TRA VELS OF SAMUEL AND LAD V BAKER. 



i2g 



achievement, aspired to be an independent ruler, to ob- 
tain possession of all the territory tributary to the Nile, 
and to acquire a place in the charmed circle of European 
rulers. He leaned upon the strong arm of England ; 
and to secure the sympathy of that mighty power, he 
proposed to destroy the trade in slaves in all his realm. 




SAMUEL AND LADY IIAKER. 



Asa step toward the accomplishment of these purposes, 
in May, 1869, he issued a firman in which he proposed 
to subdue the countries about the great Equatorial 
lakes, to suppress the slave-trade, and to introduce a 
system of commerce and the navigation of the lakes. 
The enterprise was entrusted to Baker for four years; 
he was made a Pasha, given the rank of major-general, 
9 



I30 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 



and was clothed with supreme and absolute power, in- 
cluding that of death, over all connected with his expe- 
dition. 

Like every other scheme for real progress, proposed 
by Egyptian or Turk, the only validity of these propo- 
sitions lay in their paper announcements. Men and 
materials were wanting either in quantity or quality 
suited to the enterprise. The real question was how not 
to do it. The slave-trade was to be suppressed, but the 
slave-trader, and his powerful and subsidized friends at 
court, were not to be hurt. The land was a land of 
paradox, and the labor was the task of Sisyphus. 

With such means as he could get, Baker moved to the 
scene of operations. He occupied Gondokoro, the 
farthest important point towards the south, and made it 
his capital and base of operations, with the new name 
Ismalia. He made friends w^ith some of the chiefs in 
the country beyond ; others he coerced into a pretence 
of friendship. Then he fought his way southward, and 
after a continuous and harrassing campaign he placed 
under subjection the whole territory assigned as a thea- 
tre to his operations. By then the period named in his 
commission had expired, and he returned to Cairo, 
where he transferred his command to one whom he 
himself had named as his successor, that remarkable 
figure in modern English history. Colonel Gordon, of 
Chinese and afterward of Egyptian fame. 

In the four years of Baker's administration of the 
Equatorial provinces he had accomplished scarcely 
more than to lay the foundation of Egyptian authority, 
with the subjection of the native tribes. Commerce, ex- 
cept the united movement of ivory and slaves, could fol- 
low only a more advanced civilization. The slave-trade 




llil 



132 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



was a disease of the social system, as fixed and as fatal as 
the leprosy which has once fastened its fangs upon the 
human frame. None of the objectives assigned to his 
enterprise could be established in the brief period of 
four years, even under favorable auspices. Could his 
strong hand and vigorous intellect have ruled during a 
period of longer duration, the result would have been 
more nearly commensurate with the effort. 

Baker's commission expired in 1873; Gordon's fol- 
lowed in 1875, and lasted until 1879. During that 
period, great changes occurred in Egypt. The golden 
era of Ismail passed, and Tewfik followed his deposed 
father. War pitted the Russian against the Turk. 
England came to the succor of the *'sick man," taking 
Cyprus for a doctor's fee, and postponing all dreams of 
Egyptian independence. To secure the debts incurred 
by Ismail's extravagance, Egypt passed under the dual 
control of the English and French ; Arabi revolted ; the 
bombardment of Alexandria was followed by the cam- 
paign in the desert, and the victory at Tel-el-Kebir. The 
fanaticism of the Moslem and the Bedouin was aroused, 
and an insurrection under the leadership of a self- 
styled prophet, the Mahdi, spread like a pestilence until 
it had involved the whole of Soudan and of the Equa- 
torial provinces which Baker and Gordon had so labori- 
ously subjugated. 

In 1884 Gordon was sent back to Khartoum as one 
whose person and prestige could repeat in the Soudan 
what they had effected in China. Neglected by Egypt 
and abandoned by England, in 1885 he sealed with his 
life a devotion which was ill-compensated by the bronze 
effigy quickly placed in St. Paul's to typify a nation's 
contrition. 



I 




I'- 1 l^'ili ViiV I'tiil ' il !M 'li 



134 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 



Baker had cause to feel bitterly the conduct of the 
English Government in the reversal of the policy of the 
Khedive in administering as an Egyptian satrapy the 
vast territories in Central Africa, of which the annexa- 
tion of the Equatorial Province was his handiwork. He 
had cause to approve Gordon's saying, ** We are a won- 
derful people. It was never the Government that made 
us a great nation. It has always been the drag upon 
our wheels.'* 

On Emin Pasha taking service with the German 
Government in their East African possessions in 1890, 
after his rescue by Stanley, Baker wrote as follows on 
the situation at the time he and Gordon relinquished 
the government of the Equatorial Province, and as it 
had become under the new order of affairs : — 

"From 1869 until General Gordon quitted the Sou- 
dan we built up a grand fabric of British influence, and 
linked the Albert Nyanza in direct steam communica- 
tion with Khartoum. The British Government did not 
see it, although the slave-trade of the White Nile was 
suppressed, and a good government was established 
throughout the basin of the Nile, with far greater con- 
tent to the governed than we can boast in Ireland. 

** England knocked all this progressive influence on 
the head. All that Englishmen had achieved, first in 
independent exploration of the Nile sources by Speke 
and Grant, from the south, by myself from the north ; 
subsequently Ismail's expedition under my own com- 
mand to annex the Equatorial regions and suppress the 
slave-trade ; then — after nearly five years by the late 
General Gordon's untiring energy in consolidating and 
extending the work which I had commenced — all had 
been paralyzed by England. 



136 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



*' Fifteen steamers were plying up the Blue and the 
White Niles, and two upon the Albert Nyanza, 

** The produce of the Equatorial regions, which, 
excepting ivory, could not bear the ordinary cost of 
transport, could be delivered at Khartoum by the 
bi-monthly steamers from Gondokoro, as, being Govern- 
ment vessels, they might as well travel full as- empty, 
without additional expense. 

** All this wonderful progress had been achieved 
within the extraordinary interval of 20 years, before 
which the sources of the Nile were as dark a mystery 
as they had been 5000 years ago. The British Govern- 
ment had no hand in this ; the instruments were indi- 
vidual Englishmen. The employer was Ismail, the 
present ex-Khedive of Egypt. 

*' England has taken a wet sponge and completely 
effaced this picture of successful development and at- 
tempt at civilization. Emin was clinging to the last 
floating spar of the general wreck when Stanley appeared 
upon the scene to his relief 

'' Stanley's was not a Government expedition ; it was 
the result of independent organization, with a special 
object, which was heroically attained ; but there was no 
official plan for future operations. When Emin turned 
his back upon the Equatorial Province there was no 
British policy of re-occupation ; the abandonment was 
complete, and the White Nile regions, including the 
Albert Nyanza, reverted to savagedom." 

Baker did not take a hopeful view of the commercial 
advantages to be derived from an occupation of the 
regions he annexed and governed with such energy 
and spirit. He says: — "I should be sorry to invest 
any coin in the annexation of the Equatorial Province 



138 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



with the expectation of seeing it again. During many 
years' experience in those parts I never saw any natural 
production worth one penny a pound, and the cost of 
transport to the coast would be a shilling, in the absence 
of the White Nile route and the line of steamers that 
we had established. Ivory cannot be purchased by 
legitimate means. The outlook commercially is not 
promising, but there is a grand field for adventure 
and for missionary enterprise in countries which have 
remained in savagedom since the time of the Creation, 
with a population that will fight and dance, but stead- 
fastly refuse to work." 

In the scramble for Africa, which set in about the 
time of the founding of the Congo State, a portion of 
the regions discovered by Livingstone was seized by 
the Germans, owing to the negligence of the Govern- 
ment, or a desire to conciliate that exacting people, who 
gave little in return for all our concessions. 

Lakes Tanganyika and Nyassa were discovered by 
Burton and Livingstone, and the Stevenson Road, 
between these lakes, is the work of Englishmen, 
yet Germany laid claim to these parts, and divides 
with England the regions round Victoria Nyanza, dis- 
covered by Speke. 

Germany demanded a portion of Ngamiland, dis- 
covered by Livingstone, and forgotten till the year 
1890. It lies south of the Zambesi, on the limits of 
the German Protectorate of Damaraland. Its actual 
boundaries are : on the west, the twentieth degree; on 
the south, the twenty-second parallel ; on the east, a 
line drawn from the point of intersection of the Chobe 
River and the Zambesi, which is about 50 miles west of 
the Victoria Falls, to the twenty-second parallel ; and 



SAMUEL AND LADY BAKER. 



139 



on the north, a line drawn from the same point of 
intersection, through Andara, to the twentieth degree. 
Within these Hmits is one of the most fertile districts 
in South Africa. The heart of it is the point marked 
on the maps as Lake Ngami. South of the lake the 
country is undulating, woody and well watered. It 
is also said to be very rich in minerals, and the climate 
is so good that Livingstone conceived the idea of mak- 
inof it a health resort for Central South Africa. The 
River Chobe is navigable only for canoes to the 
Zambesi, and the more important waterway of the 
Okavango rises in the neighborhood of the Cunene, in 
Portuguese territory, to the north, and passing south- 
wards by Lake Ngami, changes its name to the Botletli 
(or Zuga), and runs out into the Kari Kari Lakes of 
Khama*s country, within ten days' march of Shoshong. 
Ngamiland was formerly declared to be within the 
sphere of British influence when their Protectorate was 
announced over the neighboring country of Northern 
Bechuanaland. 

Baker died in January, 1894. H^ was a stalwart, 
self-contained Englishman; a mighty hunter; a clear 
writer; an intelhgent organizer, and an efficient execu- 
tive, a noble specimen of a worthy race. 



CHAPTER XII. 
Livingstone's Last Journeys and Death. 

NoTHWiTHSTANDiNG the dangers and hardships he 
had endured during the many years spent in penetrat- 
ing into the interior of Africa and exploring the Zam- 
besi, Livingstone, unwearied and undaunted, felt an 
ardent desire to make further discoveries. 

His previous expedition, '* to promote the production 
of cotton, and to open up commercial enterprise," was 
substantially a failure. , He was as keenly alive to this 
fact as any of his enemies. He had spent large sums 
of Government money, and all of his own, with results 
which caused general and outspoken dissatisfaction, 
and brought the whole subject of African exploration 
into disfavor. 

He wished to resume his explorations, but lacked the 
means. Roderick Murchison and others interested 
themselves in his behalf, and got the Government to 
advance 1^2500. The Geographical Society advanced a 
further $2^00, and ;^5000 more was subscribed by per- 
sonal friends. Thus, before the end of 1865, Livingstone 
was once more in Africa, on a third expedition which 
lasted over seven years. 

For the particulars of this expedition we have to 
(140) 




AMID THE REEDS OF LAKE BANGWEOLO. 



141 



142 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



depend on the brief letters he sent home at distant 
periods, and more especially on the deeply interesting 
account of Stanley, who made his adventurous journey 
to find him. 

The Governor of Bombay gave Livingstone permis- 
sion to take twelve Sepoys, who, being provided with 
Enfield rifles, were to act as guards to the expedition. 
He had brought nine men from Johanna, in the Comoro 
Islands, and these, with seven liberated slaves and two 
Zambesi men, making 30 in all, formed his attendants, 
who were considered sufficient to enable him to pass 
through the country without having to fear any plunder- 
ing raids from the natives. 

Leaving Zanzibar in March, 1866, he landed in a bay 
to the north of the Rovuma River early in the following 
month, and on April 7 he began his journey into the 
interior. His baggage consisted of bales of cloth and 
bags of beads, to enable him to purchase food and pay 
tribute to the chiefs through whose territories he might 
pass. He had, besides, his chronometer, sextant, artifi- 
cial horizon and thermometers carried in cases, as also 
medicines, and the necessary clothing and other articles 
for himself. To carry the baggage he had six camels, 
three horses, two mules and three donkeys. 

The route chosen was beset with difficulties. For 
miles on the banks of the river he found the country 
covered with dense jungle, through which the axe was 
required to hew a way. 

Greatly to his disappointment the Sepoys and Johanna 
men, unused to such labor, showed a great dislike to it, 
and soon tried to frustrate the expedition, in order to 
compel their leader to return to the coast. So cruelly 
did they neglect and ill-treat the camels and other 



LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS 143 

animals, that in a short time they all died. Natives 
were obtained to carry the loads. 

Livingstone, feeling that should he be attacked, they 
would probably desert him, dismissed the Sepoys, and, 
sent them back to the coast. 

For several days together he and his remaining men 
traveled through a wilderness, and, being unable to 
obtain food, they suffered much from hunger, while sev- 
eral of the men deserted. Thus was Livingstone left with 
only three or four attendants to prosecute his journey, 
while those who had ^one off had robbed him of much 
of his property and even the greater part of his clothes. 

Directing his course to the north-west, through the 
province of Londa, he reached the town of a chief 
named Kazembe. Londa, Kazembe's capital, is situated 
on the small Lake Mopo. To the north of it is a very 
much larger lake, called Moero. 

This is only one of a series of lakes which Living- 
stone discovered in this portion of Central Africa. The 
most southern in the large Lake of Bangweolo, 4000 feet 
above the level of the sea, its area almost equal to that 
of Lake Tanganyika. It is into this lake that the 
Chambezi and a vast number of other smaller streams 
empty themselves. 

The next important fact he observed was that a larger 
river than any of them, called the Luapula, runs out of 
the lake into Lake Moero. Out of the northern end of 
the Lake Moero again another large river, the Lualaba, 
runs thundering forth through a vast chasm, and then, 
expanding into a calm stream of great width, winds its 
way north and west till it enters a third large lake, the 
Kamolondo. To this was given the additional name of 
Webb's River. In some places it was found to be three 



144 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 



miles broad. He followed it down its course, and found 
it again making its exit from Lake Kamolondo, till it 
was joined by other large rivers, some coming from the 
south and others from the east, till he reached the village 
of Nyangwe, in latitude 4° south. Here, having ex- 
hausted the means of purchasing fresh provisions, and 
his followers refusing to proceed farther, he was com- 
pelled to bring his journey northward to a termination. 
This was not till the year 187 1. 

Livingstone's discoveries entitle him to rank as, 
perhaps, the greatest of African explorers. All the 
ground he traversed during these years was virgin soil 
so far as the foot of the white man had traversed them. 
This place, Nyangwe, was the starting-point for a 
traveler equally eminent, whose fortunes were strangely 
linked with Livingstone's, in his remarkable journey 
down the Congo in 1874-77. In this journey Stanley 
proved, by following the river to its mouth, that the 
Lualab.a of Livingstone, on which Nyangwe is situated, 
is the Congo, the second greatest river of Africa, and 
the course of which was the eni^^ma of all as'es. 

He heard of another lake to the northward, into 
which, as he supposed, the Lualaba empties itself, 
bounded by a range to the westward, called the Balegga 
Mountains. From information received, he believed 
that this last-mentioned lake was connected by a series of 
small lakes, or by a somewhat sluggish stream, with the 
Albert Nyanza, the waters of which undoubtedly flow 
into the Nile. 

To the south-west of Lake Kamolondo Livingstone 
discovered another large lake, to which he gave the 
name of Lincoln, after the President of the United 
States, the liberator of the negro slaves. 




YOUNG BAMBARAS 



1 46 AFRICAN EXPL ORA TIONS. 

Another large river, the Lomane, flowing from the 
southward, enters this lake, and, passing out again at 
its northern end, joins the Luaba, which after that takes 
an almost northerly course. These important dis- 
coveries occupied Livingstone three years. 

During his journeys, now to' the west, now to the 
east, he met, in the latter quarter, a large sheet of 
water, which he discovered to be the southern end of 
Lake Tanganyika, and, after remaining some time with 
Kazembe, he set off, and crossed over to Ujiji, which he 
reached about the middle of March, 1869. After rest- 
ing here till June, he again crossed the lake, and w^ent 
westward with a party of traders till he reached the 
large village of Bambarra, in Manyuema. This is the 
chief ivory depot in that province, where large quantities 
are obtained. 

He was here detained six months, suffering severely 
from ulcers in his feet, which prevented him putting 
them to the ground, and from thence it was, when 
again able to set out, that he tracked for a certain dis- 
tance the course of the Lualaba, which occupied him 
till the year 1871. 

From Nyangwe, he returned eastward to Ujiji, a dis- 
tance of 700 miles. Ruo, in which he discovered 
copper mines, lies directly to the south of it. Each 
village is governed by its own chief, holding little or no 
communication with its neighbors. They possess a con- 
siderable amount of ingenuity, and manufacture a fabric 
from fine grass, equal to the finest grass cloth of India. 

Livingstone describes the people as of h'ght color, 
with well-formed features. Being of gentle manners, 
the women are eagerly sought for by the Arabs, whose 
wives they sometimes become. 



LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEYS. 147 

On reaching Ujiji, on October 16, 187 1, greatly to 
his dismay he found that his agent, believing him to be 
dead, had sold all the goods for ivory, which he had 
appropriated. 

Thus Livingstone, already suffering fearfully from 
illness, found himself deprived of the means of pur- 
chasing food or paying his way back to the coast. The 
letters, stores and provisions sent to him from Zanzibar 
had been detained on the road, but relief, when least 
expected, was at hand. 

It has been mentioned that, in the year 1866, his fol- 
lowers deserted him and then made for the coast, where 
they at once spread the report that Livingstone had 
been murdered by the sanguinary tribe of Mazitu. 

We know that this tale was false, for we have already 
tracked the doctor to Ujiji, but the authorities at Zanzi- 
bar, in 1866, had no such evidence. Musa stated sup- 
posed facts in a very circumstantial manner, and rumors 
thus circulated gave rise to the activity which resulted 
in the Search Expeditions despatched from England ; 
which, however, were rendered abortive by the enter- 
prise of the New York Herald and its correspondent, 
Henry M. Stanley. 

The news of Livingstone's murder was received in 
England with sorrow. The story had so many elements 
of apparent truth in its composition, that friends and 
relatives feared the worst. 

But some people discredited the news ; and it was 
suggested that an expedition should be despatched to 
find the explorer, but this proposal was combated as 
one which, if carried out, would prove useless and dis- 
astrous. 

After some months had elapsed, his adherents gained 



148 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 



their point. A former companion of Livingstone, Ed- 
ward D. Young, was appointed leader, and proceeded 
from the Cape in June, 1867, to the mouth of the Zam- 
besi, where a small steel vessel, named the Search, 
was successfully launched upon the waters of the great 
river. 

After some adventures, and a visit to a Portuguese 
settlement, whose chief gave the members confirmation 
of Livingstone's death — which, however, Young did not 
credit — the Search continued her course, and entered 
the Shire River. Here they were attacked by the na- 
tives, but, on being recognized as English, were hos- 
pitably received, and everywhere, as the little party con- 
tinued their route, the inhabitants recognized the Eng- 
lish as old friends. 

Information coming in from time to time, assured 
Young that he was on the right trail. No hostile tribe 
opposed their progress, and the Search continued her 
venturesome w^ay unmolested. At length, in the begin- 
ning of September, 1867, Nyassa Lake w^as gained, and 
it became now a difficult matter to decide in what 
direction the course should be steered. A ** white 
man " had been reported as having gone in a north- 
westerly direction, but that w^as long ago, and Young 
and his men were somewhat undecided. 

The appearance of a native, however, gave them 
hope ; on being questioned, enough was learned to 
assure Young that, so far, he had been proceeding 
in the right direction, and that Livingstone had cer- 
tainly not been murdered. 

Proceeding up the lake, the good news was con- 
firmed. The illustrious traveler had remained in a 
small village by the water during the past winter 



I50 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



season, and had left an excellent impression upon the 
natives. 

Doubt could no longer exist in the minds of the 
members of the Search party that they had found 
" warm " traces of the great explorer. Further in- 
quiries resulted in information respecting his observa- 
tions of the sun with the sextant — which were illus- 
trated by means of sticks — by a detail of the number 
of his men, " two or three tens '* of persons, his feet 
clothed in ** skins '' (boots) — and his little dog was 
mentioned. 

Mr. Young at once continued his course, crossing 
the lake to Chivola, where more relics and reminis- 
cences of the doctor were discovered and related. 
The villagers gave many faithful and interesting de- 
tails of the white man's residence with them, and 
held his memory in great reverence, for he and his 
countrymen set their faces against slave-dealing. 

A native, who was encountered by the lake, gave 
the valuable intelligence that he had himself seen and 
assisted Livingstone, after the desertion of Musa and 
his faithless companions. The man scouted the idea 
of Livingstone having been murdered, and Musa's 
ingenious fabrication of the death and burial was 
fully proved false when the Search party penetrated 
to the Babisa country, and interviewed the old chief. 

Young came to the conclusion that Livingstone 
was alive, and that he had wandered through terri- 
tories infested by a hostile tribe, who had destroyed 
the villages. The Babisa chief warmly dissuaded 
Young from attempting to follow, and accordingly, 
the Search expedition returned to the coast, and to 
England, with the information they had acquired. 




,liiiuiiMiiiii|ii!:iiiiiii|{||M|||||||'l||flmnt||ii|||{|| 



'ii 



=: 



"lllliif'" 

1 i'lllill 






1i ! 



Jiillil 



^^m 



iiiiiii 



fiiliil 



152 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 



Though nothing definite had actually been heard 
of the great explorer since May, 1869, Murchison 
expressed his belief in Livingstone's existence. He 
had been reported at Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, where 
he was waiting supplies. Samuel Baker hoped to 
find him, but this hope had no actual result, owing 
to geographical difficulties. 

A relief expedition was now proposed. Money was 
subscribed throughout England, and the Geographi- 
cal Society took the matter in hand for the nation. 
Lieutenants Dawson and Henn were selected as the 
leaders, from a list of 400 volunteers. Oswell Liv- 
ingstone went with them. 

The Livingstone Search Expedition landed at Zanzi- 
bar on March 17, 1872, and made their preparations 
for advancing. On April 27, Lieutenants Henn and 
Dawson were about to start, when three men came in 
who had been sent on by a person, named Stanley, 
with the announcement that Livingstone had been 
found. Livingstone had sent certain instructions by 
Stanley, and there was nothing to be done but despatch 
to his aid the men and stores he required. 



CHAPTER XIII. 
Stanley's Expedition in Search of Livingstone. 

Henry Morton Stanley, who found and relieved 
Livingstone, and has since performed the more arduous 
task of succoring Emin Pasha, is one of the most re- 
markable men of the century. To be a successful 
traveler demands uncommon qualities, but Stanley pos- 
sesses them all in a degree so marked, that he may well be 
called the " Prince of African Travelers," and the name 
deservedly applied to him by Burton has, with character- 
istic generosity, been conceded to this world-renowned 
explorer. 

At the time Stanley proceeded to Abyssinia as the 
correspondent of the Neiv York Herald, he was a 
naturalized citizen of the United States, and the traveler 
encouraged the belief that he was an American by birtli, 
and always called himself an American. But his birth, 
antecedents, and early life have all been ferreted out by 
a public which demands to know every particular of its 
^reat men, and it has been ascertained that Stanley is a 
Welshman. 

He was born in the year 1840, and his name is John 
Rowlands. Like many celebrated characters, including 
travelers, such as Livingstone and the Landers, Stanley, 
as we must continue to call him, was of humble origin. 

(153) 



^54 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



His mother was left a widow when he was only two 
years of age, and he was placed in the workhouse 
school of St. Asaph, near to which he was born. There 
he remained for ten years, and though little is known of 
his early life, it has been ascertained that he was remark- 
able at school for intelligence and determination of 
character, characteristics which he displayed throughout 
his career. 

He ran away from school, and finding his way to 
Liverpool, worked his passage on a sailing ship bound 
for New Orleans. Arrived here he found employment in 
the office of a gentleman named Stanley, who took a 
fancy to him, and adopted him. Thus John Rowlands 
became Henry Morton Stanley, a name known through- 
out the civilized world, and even in the pathless forests 
and wilds of Africa. 

But now a misfortune befell him. His kind employer 
and benefactor died suddenly, and, having made no will, 
his property was claimed by his relatives, and Stanley 
found himself once more thrown on the world, with 
nothing to aid him but his indomitable will. When the 
American Civil War broke out, Stanley joined the Con- 
federate Army, under General Johnston, and was en- 
gaged in some of the battles until he became a prisoner 
at Pittsburg Landing. He managed, however, to escape 
by swimming across a river, and subsequently made his 
way to England. But the great Republic had a superior 
fascination for one of his adventurous tastes, and again 
he worked his passage out, this time to New York. 
Stanley now transferred his allegiance to the Northern 
States, and served in the Federal Navy until the close 
of the war, when he joined, as a newspaper correspon- 
dent, an expedition against the Indians in the Far West, 





(155) 



156 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 



and, on his return, was taken on the staff of the New 
York Herald. 

In this capacity, he served through the Abyssinian 
War, and by his enterprise anticipated his fellows in an 
account of the capture of Magdala. He was correspon- 
dent of the New York Herald in- the Carlist War, in 
Spain, and, in the years 1873-74, in the brief and ar- 
duous Ashantee campaign. 

But before this last service, Stanley undertook his 
expedition for the discovery and relief of Livingstone, 
which first brought him prominently before the world. 
The circumstances of his appointment are sufficiently 
singular and amusing to be recorded. Stanley was at 
Madrid on October 16, 1869, when he received a tele- 
gram from James Gordon Bennett, proprietor of the 
New York Herald, to join him at Paris. He thus 
records the interview with Mr. Bennett on his arrival at 
his hotel at Paris : — 

** I went straight to the 'Grand Hotel,' and knocked 
at the door of, Mr. Bennett's room. 

**'Come in,' I heard a voice say. Entering I found 
Mr. Bennett in bed. 

•' * Who are you ? ' he asked. 

** * My name is Stanley,' I answered. 

" * Ah, yes, sit down. I have important business in 
hand for you. Where do you think Livingstone is ? ' 

** * I really do not know, sir.' 

" * Do you think he is alive ? ' 

" * He may be, and he may not be,' I answered. 

" ' Well, I think he is alive, and that he can be found; 
and I am going to send you to find him. Of course, 
you can act according to your own plans, and do what 
you think best ; but find Livingstone ! ' " 



STANLEY IN SEARCH OF LIVINGSTONE. 



157 



When Stanley spoke of the expense, Mr. Bennett 
said : — 

** Draw a thousand pounds now, and when you have 
gone through that, draw another thousand, and when 
that is spent, draw another thousand, and when you 
have finished that, draw another thousand, and so on ; 
but find Livingstone!" 

Stanley's instructions were, first, to ascertain in Egypt 
what Samuel Baker — then about to start up the Nile — 
intended to do, and then to make his way, via Bombay 
and Mauritius, to Zanzibar. 

He arrived on January 6, 1 871, at Zanzibar, and with- 
out delay set about making the preparations for his 
journey into the interior of the African Continent. 

He had engaged at Jerusalem a Christian Arab boy, 
named Selim, who was to act as his interpreter, and he 
had also on the voyage attached to the expedition two 
mates of merchantmen, Farquhar and Shaw, who were 
useful in constructing tents and arranging two boats for 
the journey. He also secured the services of Bombay, 
captain of Speke's " faithfuls," and five of his other 
followers, Uledi, Grant's valet, and Mabruki, who had 
in the meantime lost one of his hands. They were the 
only remains of the band to be found, the rest having 
died or gone elsewhere. 

The boats, one of which was capable of carrying 20 
people, and the other six, were stripped of their planks, 
the timbers and thwarts only being carried. Instead of 
the planking it was proposed to cover them with double 
canvas skin, well tarred. They and the rest of the 
baggage were carried in loads, none exceeding 68 
pounds in weight. Two horses and 27 donkeys were 
purchased, and a small cart, while the traveler had 



iS8 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



brought with him a watch-dog, which he hoped would 
guard his tent from prowling thieves. An ample supply 
of beads, cloth and wire were also laid in, with tea, 
sugar, rice, and medicine. To Bombay and his ** faith- 
fuls " were added i8 more freemen, well armed, who 
were to act as escort to the carriers. 

On February 5, 1871, the expedition embarked in 
four dhows, which conveyed it across to Bagamoyo on 
the mainland. Here it was detained five weeks, while 
its leader was struggling to overcome the rogueries of 
the Arabs, who had undertaken to secure 140 porters, 
and in making the necessary arrangements. At Baga- 
moyo he found a caravan which had been despatched 
by the British Consul lOO days before to the relief of 
Livingstone; but which had hitherto remained inactive, 
its leader making an excuse that he was unable to obtain 
a fresh supply of carriers. 

Stanley divided his expedition into five caravans, the 
first of which he started off on February 18, although 
it was not till March 21, 1871, that he, with the largest, 
was able to begin his journey westward. Altogether 
the expedition numbered on the day of departure, be- 
sides the commander and his two white attendants, 23 
soldiers, four chiefs, and 154 carriers. Every care had 
been bestowed on the outfit, which was deemed complete. 

Bombay proved to be as honest and trustworthy as 
formerly, while Ferajji and Mabruki turned out true 
men and staunch, the latter on one occasion, finding a 
difficulty in dragging the cart, having brought it along 
on his head rather tlian abandon it. 

The Kingani River was crossed by a bridge rapidly 
formed with American axes, the donkeys refusing to 
pass through the water. 



STANLEY IN SEARCH OF LIVINGSTONE, 



159 



Few men were better able to deal with the rogueries 
of the petty chiefs he met with than Stanley. He had 
always a ready answer, and caught them in their own 
traps, while the " great master," as he was called, 
managed to keep all his subordinates in good order. 

Before long Stanley was attacked with fever, which 
greatly prostrated his strength, though he quickly 
recovered by taking strong doses of quinine. 

The report from Farquhar's caravan was most unsat- 
isfactory, he, as far as Stanley could make out, having 
lost all his donkeys. The unhappy man was suffering 
from dropsy, and had to be sent back. 

The expedition was now about to enter Ugogo. 
During the passage of the intervening desert, five out 
of the nine donkeys died, the cart having some time be- 
fore been left behind. The expedition was now joined 
by several Arab caravans, so that the number of the 
party amounted to about 400 souls, strong in guns, flags, 
horns, sounding drums, and noise. This host was to be 
led by Stanley and Hamed through the dreaded Ugogo. 

On May 26, they were at Mvumi, paying heavy trib- 
ute to the Sultan. While here five more donkeys died, 
and their bones were picked clean before the morning 
by the hyenas. 

The tribute was paid to preserve peace, and the party 
proceeded westward. The country was one vast field 
of grain, and thickly populated. Between that place 
and the next Sultan's district, 25 villages were counted. 

After this wearisome journey Stanley was again at- 
tacked by fever, which it required a whole day's halt 
and fifty grains of quinine to cure. As may be sup- 
posed, they were thankful when Ugogo was passed, and 
they entered Unyanyembe. 



1 60 AFRICAN EXPL OR A TIONS. 

The expedition at length entered Kivihara, the cap- 
ital of the province ruled over by the aged Sultan 
Mkaswa, who received Stanley in a friendly way. The 
Sheik Said Ben Salim invited him to take up his 
quarters in his house, where Stanley's goods were 
stored and his carriers paid off. His three other cara- 
vans had arrived safely. 

Soon after, the Livingstone caravan arrived, and the 
goods were stored with those of Stanley, the men being 
quartered with his. The chief of the caravan brought 
Stanley a package of letters directed to Livingstone at 
Ujiji. 

After his long journey, Stanley was completely pros- 
trate, and for two weeks was perfectly senseless. Selim, 
who had faithfully watched oyer his master and treated 
him according to the written directions he received, was 
also prostrated, and in a state of delirium for four days. 

On July 28, 1 87 1, all had again recovered, and on the 
next day, 50 carriers were ready to start. 

The road ahead was closed by the chief Mirambo, 
who declared that no Arab caravan should pass that 
way. The Arabs, therefore, had resolved to attack him, 
and mustered an army of upwards of 2000 men. Stan- 
ley, with his followers, determined to join them, to as- 
sist in bringing the war to a speedy conclusion. 

The palace was soon surrounded, and, though the 
party were received with a volley, the fire of the de- 
fenders was soon silenced. They took to flight, and 
the village was entered. Notwithstanding the heavy 
fire which had been kept up on it, 20 dead bodies 
only were found. Other villages were attacked and 
burned. 

A more serious affair occurred soon afterwards. 



STANLEY IN SEARCH OE LIVINGSTONE, jgi 

When Stanley was again attacked with fever, a number 
of his men, notwithstanding his orders to the contrary, 
joined the Arabs in an attack on a more important 
place, commanded by Mirambo himself The result 
was that, though the place was taken, the Arabs fell 
into an ambush, laid by Mirambo, and were completely 
defeated, many of them, including some of Stanley's 
soldiers, being killed. Mirambo, following up his suc- 
cesses, pursued the Arabs, and Stanley had to mount his 
donkey, Shaw being lifted on his, and to fly at midnight 
for their lives. His soldiers ran as fast as their legs 
could carry them, the only one of his followers who re- 
mained by his master's side being young Selim. At 
length they reached Mfuto, from which they had issued 
forth so valiantly a short time before. 

Stanley had felt it his duty to assist the Arabs, though 
he had now cause to regret having done so. He re- 
turned to Kivihara. Here he was detained a long time, 
during which he received authentic news of Livingstone 
from an Arab, who had met with him traveling into 
Manyuema, and who affirmed that, having gone to a 
market at Liemba in three canoes, one of them, in 
which all his cloth had been placed, was upset and lost. 
The news of Farquhar*s death here reached him. 

Month after month passed away, and he had great 
difficulty in obtaining soldiers to supply the places of 
those who had been killed or died. One day he received 
a present of a little slave boy from an Arab merchant, 
to whom, at Bombay's suggestion, the name of Kalulu, 
meaning a young antelope, was given. 

Stanley was again attacked with fever, but his white 
companion in no degree sympathized with him, even 
little Kalulu showing more feeling. Weak as he was, 
II 



1 62 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

he again began his march to the westward, with about 
40 men added to his old followers. 

Bombay, not for the first time, proving refractory and 
impudent, received a thrashing before starting, and when 
Stanley arrived at his camp at night, he found that up- 
wards of twenty men had remained behind. He sent a 
strong body back, under Selim, who returned with the 
men and some heavy slave-chains, and Stanley declared 
that if any behaved in the same way again he would 
fasten them together and make them march like slaves. 

As war was going on in the country, it was necessary 
to proceed with caution. Some of his followers showed 
a strong inclination to mutiny, which he had to quell by 
summary proceedings, and Bombay especially sank 
greatly in his good opinion. As they approached Lake 
Tanganyika, all got into better humor, and confidence 
was restored between them. 

On November 2, 1871, the left bank of the Malagarazi 
River was reached. The greater part of the day had 
been occupied in dealing with the chief of the greedy 
Wavinza tribe, who demanded an enormous sum. This 
being settled, the ferrymen asked payment for carrying 
across the caravan. These demands having been settled, 
the next business was to swim the donkeys across. 
One fine animal was being towed with a rope round its 
neck, when, just as it reached the middle of the stream, 
it was seen to struggle fearfully. An enormous crocodile 
had seized the poor animal by the throat. The black 
in charge tugged at the rope, but the donkey sank and 
was no more seen. Only one donkey now remained, 
and this was taken across by Bombay the next morning. 

The next day was an eventful one. Just before start- 
ing, a caravan was seen approaching, consisting of a 



164 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 



large party of a tribe occupying a tract of country to the 
south-west of Lake Tanganyika. 

The news was asked. A white man had been seen by 
them who had lately arrived at Ujiji from Manyuema. 
He had white hair and a white beard, and was sick. 
Only eight days ago they had seen him. He had been 
at Ujiji before, and had gone away and returned. There 
could be no doubt that this was Livingstone. 

Stanley started in high spirits, pushing on as fast as 
his men could move. On November 10, just 236 
days after leaving Bagomoyo, and 51 since they set out 
from Unyanyembe, surmounting a hill, the Lake of 
Tanganyika was s^^^w before them. Six hours' march 
brought them, to its shores. 

The " stars and stripes " were given to the breeze ; 
and repeated volleys were fired. The faithful Chumah 
and Susi, Livingstone's old followers, rushed out of the 
village to see the stranger, and in a short time Stanley 
was rewarded for all the dangers and hardships he had 
undergone by greeting the long-looked-for traveler face 
to face. The meeting of these two remarkable men has 
become historical. Stanley, advancing, held out liis 
hand, with the words, " Dr. Livingstone, I presume ; " 
and the travel-worn, but indomitable explorer replied 
simply in the affirmative. 

At this time, when reduced almost to death's door by 
sickness and disappointment, the assistance thus brought 
to Livingstone was of inestimable worth. The society 
of his new friend, the letters from home, the well-cooked 
meal which the doctor was able to enjoy, and the cham- 
pagne quaffed out of silver goblets, brought carefully 
those hundreds of miles for that especial object, had a 
wonderfully exhilarating influence. 



STANLE Y IN SEARCH OF LIVINGSTONE. 



165 



Some days were spent at Ujiji, during which Living- 
stone regained health and strength. Future plans 
were discussed, and his previous adventures described. 
The longer the intercourse Stanley enjoyed with Living- 
stone, the more he rose in his estimation. 

** Dr. Livingstone," he says, ** is about sixty years old. 
His hair has a brownish color, but here and there 
streaked with grey lines over the temples. His beard 
and moustache are very grey. His eyes, which are 
hazel, are remarkably bright : he has a sight keen as a 
hawk's. His frame is a little over the ordinary height; 
when walking, he has a firm but heavy tread, like that 
of an over-worked or fatigued man. I never observed 
any spleen or misanthropy about him. He has a fund 
of quiet humor, which he exhibits at all times when he 
is among friends. During the four months I was with 
him I noticed him every evening making most careful 
notes. His maps evince great care and industry. He 
is sensitive on the point of being doubted or criticised. 
His gentleness never forsakes him, his hopefulness never 
deserts him ; no harassing anxiety or distraction of mind, 
though separated from home and kindred, can make 
him complain. He thinks all will come out right at 
last, he has such faith in the goodness of Providence. 
Another thing which especially attracted my attention 
was his wonderfully retentive memory. His religion is 
not of the theoretical kind, but it is constant, earnest, 
sincere, practical ; it is neither demonstrative nor loud, 
but manifests itself in a quiet, practical way, and is al- 
ways at work. In him religion exhibits its loveliest 
features ; it governs his conduct not only towards his 
servants, but towards the natives. I observed that uni- 
versal respect was paid to him ; even the Mohammedans 



1 56 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 

never passed his house without calling to pay their com- 
pliments, and to say: *.The blessing of God rest on 
you ! ' Every Sunday morning he gathers his little 
flock around him, and reads prayers and a chapter from 
the Bible in a natural, unaffected, and sincere tone, and 
afterwards delivers a short address in the Kiswahili 
language, about the subject read to them, which is 
listened to with evident interest and attention. 

'' His consistent energy is native to him and his race. 
He is a very fine example of the perseverance, dogged- 
ness and tenacity which characterize the Anglo-Saxon 
spirit. His ability to withstand the climate is due not 
only to the happy constitution with which he was born, 
but to the strictly temperate life he has ever led." 

In another place Stanley says : " Livingstone followed 
the dictates of duty. Never was such a willing slave to 
that abstract virtue. Surely, as the sun shines on both 
Christian and infidel, civilized and pagan, the day of en- 
lightenment will come : and though the apostle of 
Africa may not behold it himself, nor we younger men, 
nor yet our children, the hereafter will see it, and pos- 
terity will recognize the daring pioneer of its civiliza- 
tion." 

After they had been some weeks together at Ujiji, 
Stanley and Livingstone agreed to make a voyage on 
Lake Tanganyika, one of the chief objects of which was 
to settle the long-mooted point as to whether the Rusizi 
River is an affluent or an effluent. They embarked in a 
cranky canoe, hollowed out of a tree, which carried 
l6 rowers, Selim, and two guides, besides themselves. 

The lake was calm, its waters of a dark green color, 
reflecting the serene blue sky above. At one place 
where they sounded, the depth was found to be 210 



STANLEY IN SEARCH OE LIVINGSTONE. 



167 



feet near the shore, and farther out 350 feet of hne was 
let down without finding bottom, and Dr. Livingstone 
stated that he had sounded opposite the lofty- Kabogo, 
and attained the depth of 1800 feet. 

We will not venture to attempt a description of the 
magnificent scenery of this enormous lake. Each night 
they landed and encamped, continuing their voyage the 
next day. Generally they were well received by the 
natives, though they had to avoid one or two spots 
where the people were said to be treacherous and 
quarrelsome. On reaching the mouth of the Rusizi, 
they pushed up it a short distance, but found that it was 
navigable only for the smallest canoes. 

The most important point, however, which they dis- 
covered was that the current was flowing, at the rate of 
six to eight miles an hour, into the lake. 

Coasting round the north shore, they paddled down 
the west coast till nearly opposite the island of Muzimu, 
when they crossed back to the shore from whence they 
had come, and steered southward beyond Ujiji till they 
reached nearly the sixth degree of latitude, at a place 
called Urimba. Their voyage, altogether, took 28 
days, during which time they traversed over 300 miles 
of water. 

On their return to Ujiji, they resolved to carry out 
one of the several plans which Stanley had suggested to 
Livingstone. One of them was to return to Unyany- 
embe to enlist men to sail down the Victoria Nyanza 
in Stanley's boat, for the purpose of meeting Samuel 
Baker; but this, with several others, was dismissed. 
Livingstone's heart was set on endeavoring to settle 
numerous important points in Manyuema connected 
with the supposed source of the Nile. He finally agreed 



1 68 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 

to allow Stanley to escort him to Unyanyembe, where 
he should receive his own goods and those which Stan- 
ley proposed to deliver up to him, and where he could 
rest in a comfortable house, while his friend would hurry 
down the coast, and organize a new expedition, com- 
posed of fo men, well armed, by. whom an additional 
supply of needful luxuries might be sent. 

Christmas Day was kept up with such a feast as Ujiji 
could furnish them, the fever from which Stanley had 
lately been suffering having left him the night before. 

On December 27, 1 87 1, they embarked in two canoes, 
the one bearing the flag of England, the other that of 
America ; and their baggage being on board, and hav- 
ing bidden farewell to Arabs and natives, together they 
commenced their voyage on the lake, steering for the 
south. At the same time the main body of their men 
began their journey, which was to be performed on foot, 
along the shores of the lake. It had been arranged 
that the canoes should meet them at the mouth of 
every river, to transport them across from bank to bank. 
Their intention was to land at Cape Tongwe, when they 
would be opposite the village of Itaga, whence by tra- 
versing the uninhabited districts to the east, they would 
avoid the exactions of the roguish Wavinza and the 
plundering Wahha, and then strike the road by which 
Stanley had come. This plan was completely carried 
out. Stanley had procured a strong donkey at Ujiji, 
that Livingstone might perform the journey on its back. 

Pouring rain came down during the whole journey, 
and it was to their intense satisfaction that at length the 
two friends walked into Stanley's old quarters, who said, 
*' Doctor, w^e are at home." 

Here they were again busily employed in examining 



STANLEY m SEARCH OF LIVINGSTONE, 169 

stores, and Livingstone in writing despatches and letters 
to his friends. Here he resolved to remain, while Stan- 
ley went down to the coast to enlist men and collect 
such further stores as were required, and to send them 
back. On their arrival he purposed returning with them 
to Ujiji, and from thence crossing over into Manyuema, 
to make further researches in that province and Ruo; 
among other things, to examine the underground hab- 
itations which he had heard of on a previous journey. 

On March 14, 1872, Stanley and Livingstone break- 
fasted together, and then the order was given to raise 
the flag and march. Livingstone accompanied him 
some way, but they had to part at last. 

The return journey was not performed without many 
adventures and a considerable amount of suffering by 
the enterprising traveler. 

Passing the stronghold of Kisalungo, a large portion 
had disappeared. The river had swept away the entire 
front wall and about 50 houses, several villages having 
suffered disastrously, while at least lOO people had 
perished. The whole valley, once a paradise in appear- 
ance, had been converted into a howling waste. 
Farther on, a still more terrible destruction of human 
life and property had occurred. It was reported that 
100 villages had been swept away by the inundation 
of a river. Passing a dense jungle, and wading for sev- 
eral miles through a swamp, on May 6, the caravan was 
again en route at a pace its leader had never seen equalled. 
At sunset the town of Bagamoyo was entered. 

His first greeting was with Lieutenant Henn, who had 
come out as second in command of the proposed Liv- 
ingstone Search and Relief Expedition. He next met 
Oswell Livingstone. The two proposed shortly starting 



I70 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 



on their journey, having come over with no less than 
190 loads of stores, which they would have had no 
small difficulty in conveying. Stanley was not overwell 
pleased with some of the remarks made in the papers 
about himself, some having regarded his expedition 
into Africa as a myth. 

** Alas !" he observes, ** it has been a terrible, earnest 
fact with me : nothing but hard, conscientious work, pri- 
vations, sickness and almost death. " 

However, welcomed cordially by numerous friends at 
Zanzibar, he soon recovered his spirits, and, having dis- 
banded his own expedition, set to work to arrange the 
one he had promised to form for the assistance of Liv- 
ingstone, Mr. Henn having in the meantime resigned, 
and Oswell Livingstone being compelled from ill health 
to abandon the attempt to join his father. 

Fifty rifles, with ammunition, stores and cloth, were 
furnished by Oswell Livingstone out of the English ex- 
pedition. 57 men, including 20 of those who had fol- 
lowed Stanley, were also engaged, the services of Johari, 
chief dragoman to the American consulate, being also 
obtained to conduct them across the inundated plains 
of the Kingani. 

Having engaged a dhow, Stanley saw them all on 
board, and again urged them to follow the " great mas- 
ter,** as they called Livingstone, wherever he might lead 
them, and to obey him in all things. He then shook 
hands with them, and, watched the dhow as she sped 
westward on her way to Bagamoyo. 

Those who had accompanied him were rewarded, 
and he states to their credit, though Bombay and many 
others had at first annoyed him greatly, that from Ujiji 
to the coast, they had all behaved admirably. 



STANLE V IN SEARCH OF LIVINGSTONE, 



171 



Dr. Livingstone, in parting with Stanley, stated that 
he did not intend to return home until he had satisfied 
himself concerning the sources of the Nile. He ex- 
pressed his determination to strike across country from 
Lake Tanganyika to the Lualaba River. " Crossing 
that," he continued, *' I will go to the Katanga mines," 
and eight days south of the Katanga, the natives had 
assured the explorer the *' fountains of the Nile " were 
to be found. The doctor proposed to return from Ka- 
tanga, then journey to Lake Komolondo, up the Lufira 
to Lake Lincoln. Coming down again, he would pro- 
ceed by the Lualaba to the next lake, and then make 
his way to Zanzibar, which he estimated would occupy 
him a year and a half 

" May God bring you back safe to us all, my dear 
friend," was Stanley*s last wish. ** Farewell." 

Stanley sent the men and the supplies for two years 
to Livingstone, who waited for them until August, at 
Unyanyembe, where Stanley had left him. On August 
25, 1872, the little caravan, which numbered 60 persons, 
including many faithful adherents, quitted Unyanyembe 
upon Livingstone's last journey towards the eastern 
shore of Lake Tanganyika. The expedition proceeded 
without any very remarkable incident occurring till, on 
September'15, we find the significant entry in the jour- 
nal, which on that day closes with the word '^111." 
Nevertheless next day Livingstone passed over the 
range of hills, and then westward to the village of Kam- 
irambo. On the i8th, the party '' remained at Miriras," 
and Livingstone's old foe (dysentery) attacked him, and 
afterwards his followers spoke of few periods of health. 

But the explorer still pressed on, with occasional 
halts for rest, and on October 8, he " came on early, as 



1 72 AFRICAN EX PL OR A TIONS. 

the sun was hot, and in two hours saw the Tanganyika 
from a gentle hill." After a short rest, Livingstone pro- 
ceeded along the top of the range, which runs parallel 
with the lake about lOOO feet above it. Then, crossing 
several inlets of the lake, the party proceeded through a 
country swarming with game, and so on over the hills 
and mountains ; then southwards. After suffering from 
want of food, and by the falseness of a guide, the expe- 
dition climbed up a steep mountain, whence a view of 
the lake was obtained. They descended to the valley ; 
and on the 1 2th and 1 3th, their journey led them over low 
ranges of sandstone, past several stockaded villages, 
and they arrived at Zombe's Town. 

The loss of the best donkey is recorded as a calamity. 
So the journey continued with varying daily progress 
till the Lofu was reached on November 28, 1872, and 
subsequently the Lower Katanta, through heavy rains 
and many streams. Food was scarce ; while the en- 
tries in the journal show that the doctor was feeble and 
ailing. 

Christmas Day was cold and wet, but a day of rest 
and some rejoicing. They pushed on again, in wet and 
drizzling weather, till on January 8, 1873, they were ^^' 
tained by heavy rains at Moenje. '* We are near Lake 
Bangweolo," says Livingstone, '' and in a damp region." 
Thenceforward it appears that the journey was a con- 
tinual plunge into and out of morasses, *' and through 
rivers which were only distinguishable from the sur- 
rounding waters by their deep currents, and the necessity 
for using canoes." To a man reduced in strength, and 
chronically affected with dysenteric symptoms ever 
likely to be aggravated by exposure, the effect may well 
be conceived. 



174 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



A dry day enabled the caravan to " move forward an 
hour to a rivulet and sponge " — through flat forest, *' to 
a running rivulet with one hundred yards of sponge on 
each side." There was a great want of canoes, and no 
assistance was afforded by the natives. Sometimes Liv- 
ingstone was carried across the rivulets; for he was too 
weak to wade, and thus, in a continued series of troubles 
and worries, the painful pilgrimage was continued. An 
entry, under date of January 24, with an illustration, in 
the *' Journal," tells us the extreme difficulty of the 
passage. Plunging through a stream, neck deep, in 
pouring rain, he was passed from one pair of shoulders 
to another for fifty yards at a time. A terrible journey 
indeed, and nothing but the greatest pluck and deter- 
mination, united with respect for the leader, could have 
kept the people together. 

So February passed, and March found them on a 
miserable island. " We are surrounded by scores of 
miles of rushes, an open sward, and many lotus plants, 
but no mosquitoes,'* adds the diarist, thankfully. 

Still wandering in the swamps of Lake Bangweolo, 
the explorer continued his search for evidence of the 
junction of the Lualaba with the Lake; but doubt of 
success seems to have filled the doctor's mind. ** Can 
I hope for ultimate success?" he writes on March 19; 
*• so many obstacles have arisen ! " This was Living- 
stone's last birthday, when, perhaps, the shadow of the 
coming darkness was perceptible to his mind. 

At length, in the beginning of April, the complaint 
from which he had been so long suffering assumed a 
bad character, and left him " bloodless and weak, from 
bleedingprofusely since March 31. Oh! howllongtobe 
permitted by the Over Power to finish my work." This 



1^6 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

entry tells us, more than many pages of description, 
what the sufferings of the brave man were. On April 
12 he adds, " Lay down quite done, cooked coffee — our 
last — and went on, but in an hour I was compelled to 
lie down." The 19th tells us : '* I am excessively weak, 
and but for the donkey I could not move a hundred 
yards. // is not all pleasure, this exploration I " The 
end was, indeed, drawing near. 

** Tried to ride, but was forced to lie down. They 
carried me back to vil. exhausted." Fight on, brave 
heart, fight on, but it is in vain. Chuma and Susi, his 
faithful followers, undid Livingstone's belt, and carried 
him to the village. The men perceived the increasing 
weakness of their master, and made him a litter, in 
which they carried him, suffering acutely. 

Then only dates are entered. Passing through the 
flooded, treeless wastes, the men were sheltered in 
villages, the doctor becoming weaker and weaker. 
Sunday, April 20, 1 873, w^as the date of the last service 
he held with his followers, and on the 27th he appeared 
to be dying. 

" Knocked up quite, and remain — recover — sent to 
buy milch goats. We are on the banks of the Molilamo " 
(Lulimala). 

These were the last words Livingstone ever wrote. 

Great difficulties were encountered in the transport 
of Livingstone across the river, for he was in great 
pain. Then the dying explorer was carried forward to 
Chitumbo*s village, but even in this brief transit he 
begged his bearers many times to stop and let him rest. 
The house was erected and made ready as soon as 
possible, and the litter placed within it. At eleven 
o'clock P. M. on April 30, Livingstone asked some ques- 



178 



AFRICAN EXPL OR A TIONS, 



tions of his attendant, Susi, and then dozed off. An 
hour later Susi was again called, and Livingstone took 
some medicine. ** All right ; you can go now/' he said. 
And Susi left him. 

Early on the morning of May I, a lad came to Susi 
and called him to ** Bwana/' for ** I don't know if he is 
alive ! '' Susi, alarmed, ran to fetch the rest. 

A candle stuck by its own wax to the top of the 
box shed a light sufficient for them to see his form. 
Livingstone was kneeling by the side of his bed, his 
• body stretched forward, his head buried in his hands 
upon the pillow. For a minute they watched him ; he 
did not stir; there was no sign of breathing; then one 
of them, Matthew, advanced softly to him and placed 
his hands to his cheeks. It was sufficient ; life had been 
extinct some time, and the body was almost cold: Liv- 
ingstone was dead. 

The heart of Livingstone was buried where he died, 
his body was preserved by being fully exposed to the 
sun and then was reverently conveyed by his faithful 
servants to Zanzibar, whence it was transferred to 
England, and placed, with stately ceremonies and amid 
crowds of mourners, with the remains of the greatest 
and noblest of the English race who sleep in the Abbey 
of Westminster. 

The coffin bore this inscription — 

DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 

Born at Blantyre, Lanarkshire, Scotland, 

19 March, 1813, 

Died at Ilala^ Central Africa, 

I May, 1873. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
Cameron's Journey Across Africa. 

Lieutenant Verney Cameron, of the British Navy, 
volunteered, in the year 1872, to conduct an expedi- 
tion to explore the region which Livingstone had 
traversed, and in which he had so long lived. 

Cameron, accompanied by Dr. Dillon, a former mess- 
mate, reached Zanzibar in January, 1873. He declared 
his purpose of crossing Africa from sea to sea, and 
this he accomplished. But his party was not a very 
strong one, for only 30 men were collected, and Bombay, 
who had the selection, took no trouble in the matter. 

In February, 1873, the expedition marched into the 
interior without impediment, and reached Killoa with- 
out having encountered any important adventure by 
the way. Cameron had meantime been joined by R. 
Moffat, a nephew of Doctor Livingstone, who was left 
with Lieutenant Murphy. 

The journey from Killoa was most enervating — across 
the swamps and the terrible Makata morass, where Dr. 
Dillon was taken ill, and could go no farther. Cam- 
eron, however, pushed on into higher and more healthy 
country, and at once sent back assistance and convey- 
ance for his friend, who was conveyed to Rehenucko. 

The march to Unyanyembe was accomplished under 

(179) 



l8o AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 

the greatest difficulties. Death, desertion and suf- 
fering marked the course with sad milestones, as day by 
day the route was pursued. But in August, 1873, the 
place so famous in African travel, from the time when 
Burton and Speke first entered it, was gained. 

At Unyanyembe, Cameron met with a kind welcome, 
and was installed in the same dwelling which had 
already sheltered Livingstone and Stanley. But once 
again trouble arose with the men. A mutiny broke 
out, which was quelled, but fever and desertion deci- 
mated the followinof of Cameron and Dillon. The head 
man, Bombay, already mentioned, gave himself up to 
the habit of intoxication ; while, to add to the trouble, 
Cameron himself suffered from a severe attack of fever, 
which nearly proved fatal. 

This was a trying time, and in the letters written by 
Dillon may be found the affecting record of the young 
leader's sufferings and delirium in that fearful fever 
which soon was to lay its fell grasp upon Dillon him- 
self, and caused him to die by his own hand in a 
paroxysm of madness. During many weary weeks 
Cameron remained prostrate, but October found him 
on the road to convalescence. 

October 20 brought in news of a very sadden- 
ing nature. As Cameron was slowly recovering, his 
servant entered the tent and gave him a letter which had 
just arrived. The man could tell nothing more than it 
had come in by a messenger. 

The letter, of which we give a literal copy, was from 
Jacob Wainright to Oswell Livingstone. 

'' Sir : — We have heard, in the month of August, 
that you have started from Zanzibar for Unyanyembe, 



CAMERON'S JOURNEY ACROSS AFRICA. igi 

and, again, have lately heard of your arrival. Your 
father died by disease beyond the country of Bisa, but 
we have carried the corpse with us. Ten of our soldiers 
are lost, and some have died. Our hunger presses us 
to ask of you some clothes to buy provisions for our 
soldiers, and we should have an answer that, when 
we shall enter, there shall be firing guns or not; 
and, if you will permit us to fire guns, then send us some 
powder. We have written these few words in the place 
of Sultan or King Mborwa. 
"The Writer, 

"Jacob Wainwright, 

'' Dr. Livingstone Expedition.** 

This was the first intimation of the death of the cele- 
brated African explorer, and it fell upon eyes and ears 
dimmed and dulled by fever. Dillon and Cameron, both 
only half recovered, took some time to grasp the mean- 
ing ; but on the arrival of the faithful Chumah, all doubt 
of the fact was put an end to. Cameron's occupation 
was virtually gone! The Livingstone Search Expedi- 
tion had been arrested by the hand of death. Cam- 
eron and his companions might now return, for their 
mission had been accomplished. 

But Cameron determined to proceed across the conti- 
nent westwards, while Dillon and Murphy accompanied 
the funeral procession of Dr. Livingstone, as already 
related. Poor Dillon shot himself in delirium ; and 
hearing of the sad event, Cameron hurried back to see 
Murphy and learn particulars. At Kasekerah, where 
the suicide had happened, Cameron collected his men 
and started thence, accompanied by Bombay, on De- 
cember 2, 1873. 



r82 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

It was not till the following February that Cameron 
and h.s party reached Tanganyika. Canoes had been 
sent hither for his use : and ni them he was enabled to 
reach Ujiji, or ratlier Kowele, the landing-place. 

tiy the last of April, the boats reached the end of the 
lake and of the district near which Livingstone had 
passed m his last fatal march. The outlet of the lake 
was discovered, and the important fact revealed that the 
Lukuga carries its stream into the Lualaba, which Jiad 
been discovered by Livingstone, who thought it belonged 
to the Nile system ; " while Cameron declared it was 
a branch of the Congo. The true solution of the 
problem was left for Stanley, as we shall see later 

The expedition left Kwakasongo on August 'i, and 
after two marches came in sight of the mighty Lualaba 
—a strong, sweeping current, fully a mile wide, and 
flowing at the rate of three or four knots an hour, with 
many islands, hke the eyots in the Thames, lying in its 
course. The crocodiles and hippopotami ^ere numer! 
ous and dangerous. Without delay Cameron started 
for Nyangwe, and was carried at a rapid pace down 
stream. " At last," he says, " I was at NyLgwe. anS 
now the question before me was. what success would 
attend the attempt at tracing the river to the sea " 

seen ^nd ^T"'"^ °r ^"^"''' '^75. the Zambesi was 
seen and at the end of the month Katende, near Lake 
D.lolo was reached. Livingstone had penetrated so 
lar. Ihen the want of food began to make itself felt 
rhe pleasant traders with whom Cameron journeyed 
had stripped him of nearly all he possessed, and he was 
actually obliged to sell his shirts for fo^d. So the 

Z^c /'■°r''^'1: ^" November the Kukewi River was 
crossed ; then they marched through the mountains 



1 84 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



until the approach to Katombela, on the coast, filled 
Cameron with delight. 

A messenger sent in advance had obtained provisions 
which reached the half-starved explorer, and when 
within sight of the sea, Cameron ran down the slope of 
the hill towards Katombela, *' swinging his rifie round 
his head/' Unfurling the English flag he carried, Cam- 
eron advanced, and met a Frenchman, who, with three 
men bearing wine, welcomed him, and drank to the 
health of the first European who had crossed the Con- 
tinent from east to west, Livingstone having performed 
the same feat in a contrary direction. 

After a delay caused by sickness, Cameron proceeded 
to Loanda. Here he found letters and a hearty wel- 
come, and having seen his people off in a schooner for 
Zanzibar, in February, 1876, he embarked for Liver- 
pool in the steamer Congo. 

The results of this journey across Africa were very 
important. The traveler proved that the Lualaba has 
no connection with the Nile system, and was of opinion 
that it was the head-waters of the Congo, a result which 
Stanley has since ascertained to be true. Thus Living- 
storve was actually exploring the Congo, and not the Nile, 
during his later years. Cameron also discovered a water 
system by the Lomane, which he called the true Lualaba. 

For his great services to geographical science, the 
gallant explorer received the Gold Medal of the Geo- 
graphical Society, and it has seldom been more worthily 
bestowed. Cameron was not only a successful traveler, 
but he was an accomplished observer. His observa- 
tions were conducted on scientific principles and were 
of vast extent, displaying untiring industry under the 
most depressing influences of climate, and constancy 
and courage of a high order. 



CHAPTER XV. 
Stanley's Exploration of the Congo. 

Once again Stanley appears on the scene, commis- 
sioned jointly by the Daily Telegraph and the New York 
Herald, to complete the discoveries of Speke and Liv- 
ingstone, especially to clear up all doubts regarding the 
Central African Lakes, and to follow the Lualaba until 
it reaches the sea, the task which Livingstone sought to 
accomplish. His party from England consisted of 
Frank and Edward Pocock, Frederick Barker, and 
Halleck. A barge named the Lady Alice, was taken in 
sections, besides two other boats, with a perfect equip- 
ment. 

Stanley left England, to begin his perilous journey, 
on August 15, 1874. He reached Zanzibar on Sep- 
tember 21, and left for the mainland on November 12, 
and five days later, started for the interior, on his peril- 
ous and famous journey through Africa, of which he 
has given so graphic an account in his work, " Across 
the Dark Continent/' 

The first stage was to the Victoria Nyanza, which 
Stanley desired to explore. The imperfect description 
of previous explorers had left much to be decided con- 
cerning this great inland sea. 



1 86 AFRICAN EXPL ORA TIONS, 

The advance to the great Lake Victoria was full of 
adventurous interest. Those who read his volumes will 
learn that traveling in the ** Dark Continent " means 
being at times in the wilderness without a guide, or with 
traitors acting as guides, which is a worse alternative. 
This was Stanley's fate, and he was deserted in the 
waste, with a small stock of food. Through the difficult 
jungle the men had to crawl, cutting their way, guided 
solely by the compass, overcome by hunger and thirst, 
with desertions frequent, and much sickness. This was 
in *' famine-stricken Ugogo.'* 

While on this disastrous march he lost five of his 
people, who, " wandering on helplessly, fell down and 
died." The country produced no food, or even game, 
unless lions could be so called. Two young lions were 
found in a den, and were quickly killed and eaten. 
Stanley tells us how he returned to camp, and was so 
struck by the pinched jaws of his followers that he 
nearly wept. He decided to utilize his precious medical 
stores, for the people were famishing. So he made a 
quantity of gruel, which kept the expedition alive for 
48 hours, and then the men he had despatched toSuma 
for provisions, returned with food. Refreshed, they all 
marched on, so that they might reach Sumanext morn- 
ing. 

After proceeding 20 miles they came to the cultivated 
districts and encamped. But the natives of Suma were 
hostile, and the increasing sick-list made a four days* 
halt necessary. There were 30 men ailing from various 
diseases. Edward Pocock was taken ill here, and on 
the fourth day, he became delirious; but the increasing 
suspicions of the natives — who are represented as a very 
fine race — made departure necessary, and so a start was 



STANLEY'S EXPLORATION OF THE CONGO. 



187 



made, on January 17, 1875, in hostile company. The 
famine in Ugogo had severely tried every man's consti- 




THE CONGO KING. 



tution, and all felt weary in spirit if not ill in body. 
"Weary, harassed, feeble creatures," they reached 



1 88 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 

Chiwyu, 400 miles from the sea, and camped near the 
crest of a hill 5400 feet high. Here Edward Pocock 
breathed his last. 

Hence two rivulets ran, gradually converging and 
finally uniting into a stream which trends towards 
Lake Victoria. Up to this point the explorer had, 
as he said, *' child's play " to what he afterwards 
encountered. 

After passing Mangina the expedition pushed on and 
reached Izanjih, where Halleck was seized with asthma. 
He would lag behind, and so Stanley proceeded slowly 
to Vinyata, where the expedition arrived on January 
21, 1875. Here a magic doctor paid Stanley a visit 
and cast longing eyes at the stores. Scouts had been 
meantime sent after the man Halleck, and he was found 
murdered on the edge of a wood, his body gashed by 
many wounds. 

Next day, after the departure of the magic doctor, 
who came for another present, the natives showed hos- 
tile symptoms. One hundred savages, armed and in 
warlike costume, came around, shouting and brandish- 
ing their weapons. At this juncture Stanley, following 
Livingstone's practice, decided to make no counter 
demonstration ; but to remain quiet in camp, and pro- 
voke no hostility. This plan did not answer, however. 
The natives mistook for cowardice the wish for peace. 
There were so many tempting articles and stores which 
the natives coveted. No peace could be made at any 
price, and the savages attacked the camp in force. 

Stanley disposed his men behind hastily erected 
earthworks and other shelter, and used the sections of 
the Lady Alice barge as a citadel for final occupation. 
There were only 70 effective men to defend the camp, 



STANLEY'S EXPLORATION OF THE CONGO. 



189 



and these were divided into detachments and subdivided. 
One sub-detachment was quickly destroyed, and in the 
day's fight 21 soldiers and one messenger were killed 
— three wounded. Stanley's men, however, pursued 
the retreating enemy, and burned many villages, the 
men bringing in cattle and grain as spoils. Next day 
the natives came on again, but they were quickly routed, 
and the expedition, after three days of battle, continued 
its way through the now desolate valley unmolested. 

The victors, however, had not much to boast of 
After only three months' march, the expedition had 
lost 120 Africans and one European from the effects of 
sickness and battle. There were now only 194 men 
left. They pressed on, however, towards the Victoria 
Nyanza, and after escaping the warlike Mirambo, who 
fought everybody on principle, Stanley reached Kagehyg 
on February 27. He was now close to the lake, having 
marched 720 miles; average daily march, ten miles. 

On March 8, Stanley, leaving Frank Pocock to com- 
mand the camp, set forth with eleven men in the Lady 
Alice to explore the lake and ascertain whether it is one 
of a series, as Livingstone said it was. The explorer be- 
gan by coasting Speke Gulf. Many interesting obser- 
vations were made. He penetrated into each little bay 
and creek, finding indications that convinced him that 
the slave-trade is carried on there, l^ut the explorer 
had to battle for his information. Near Chaga the 
natives came down, and after inducing him to land, at- 
tacked him ; but Stanley shot and killed one man, and 
the natives subsided. On another occasion the natives 
tried to entrap him, but he escaped by firing on the 
savas^es, killinsf three men and sinkinor their canoes with 
bullets from an elephant rifle. 



1 90 AFRICAN EXPL OR A TIONS. 

Continuing his course now unopposed, Stanley 
coasted along the Uganda shore, and a messenger 
came from the King to Stanley requesting his attend- 
ance. Five canoes escorted the travelers to Usavara, 
the capital of King Mtesa. The explorer landed on 
April 5, and was most kindly received, but closely ques- 
tioned. 

King Mtesa appeared almost a civilized monarch, 
quite a different being from what he had been when 
Speke and Grant visited him as a young man. He had 
become a Mohammedan, wore Arab dress, and con- 
ducted himself well. He entertained Stanley Avith re- 
views of canoes, a naval " demonstration " of eighty-four 
"ships" and 2500 men! Shooting-matches, parades, 
and many other civilized modes of entertainment were 
practised for the amusement of the white man. In 
Uganda the traveler was welcomed, and perfectly safe. 
Stanley met Bellfonds and Linant, whom Gordon had 
sent on a mission to Mtesa. 

While exploring the lake, serious conflicts occurred 
at Bumbireh Island, where he had put in for food, but 
was not amicably received. After a time, however, he 
was induced to go ashore, and when he landed, the boat 
was immediately seized. The crew and Stanley rushed 
to the boat, while the crowd yelled and branished their 
weapons. Some presents checked the fury of the peo- 
ple ; but their object was apparently to kill the white 
man. The chief, who had already stolen the oars, was 
anxious to secure Stanley's weapons, but he caused his 
boat to be suddenly pushed off. Furious with rage, 
they rushed to their canoes; but a few bullets and some 
elephant explosive shells settled the question. Of the 
savages, 14 were killed and two canoes sunk. 



STANLEY'S EXPLORATION OF THE CONGO. 



191 



Paddling with the bottom-boards of the boat, Stan- 
ley's men pushed on through storm and rain, until a 
favorable wind at length carried the voyagers to camp. 
Here, on May 6, Frank Pocock met his chief, who then 
learned that Frederick Barker had died a fortnight be- 
fore. This was sad news, and much trouble was still 
ahead of Stanley. Other men had died, and fever at- 
tacked the leader himself. 

In the continuation of his voyage Stanley again came 
into collision with the people of Bumbireh. Finding 
they would not return his oars, he sailed with 18 canoes 
to chastise them in Bumbireh Island. 

Here he was expected, and the fight begun. Stanley, 
by pretending to land, drew the enemy from their am- 
bush, and then fired on them, killing 42 of them ; 
and this put an end to the resistance of the tribe. Their 
treachery was sufficiently punished, and they had de- 
clined peace. Stanley then proceeded to the Court of 
Uganda, where he found Mtesa at war. 

Stanley had now explored the entire coast of the Vic- 
toria Nyanza, and found only one outlet, the Ripon 
Falls. The King was at the head of a numerous army, 
which had some skirmishing. While the army was en- 
camped, and making ready for its final advance, Stanley 
converted King Mtesa to Christianity. 

After remaining some time with Mtesa, he departed 
in October, 1875, ^^ explore the country lying between 
Muta Nzige (Albert Nyanza) and the Victoria Nyanza. 
This time he had with him an escort of Mtesa's men, 
under a *' general" named Sambusi. The expedition, 
after a pleasant march, came within a few miles of the 
Albert Nyanza, but then the native warriors wished to 
return, and Stanley yielded perforce. He returned, but 



192 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



the faint-hearted '^ general" was put in irons by Mtesa, 
whom he had disgraced. Stanley had now confirmed 
Speke's discoveries. He proceeded towards the Alex- 
andria Nile and thence turned towards Lake Tangan- 
yika, and camped at Ujiji, where he had met Dr. Living- 
stone. Thence he prepared to journey to Nyangwe, 
the farthest northern place attained by Cameron, as al- 
ready related. Stanley carried the Lady Alice across 
350 miles which intervened between Ujiji and Nyangwe, 
which is situated on the Lualaba (of Livingstone), 
which Stanley demonstrated to be none other than the 
mighty Congo. We shall now follow Stanley briefly in 
his discovery along that river, which he had determined 
to explore. 

On November 5 he set out from Nyangwe. He had 
with him 140 rifles and 70 spearmen and could defy the 
warHke tribes of which he had heard so much, and he 
made up his mind to '' stick to the Lualaba, fair or 
foul ! " For three weeks he pushed his away along the 
banks, meeting with tremendous cifficulties, till all be- 
came disheartened. Stanley said he would try the 
river. The Lady Alice was put together and launched, 
and then the leader declared he would never quit it 
until he reached the sea. "All I ask," said he to his 
men, ** is that you will follow me in the name of God." 
**In the name of God, master, we will follow you," 
they replied. And they did so bravely. 

A skirmish occurred at the outset, by the Ruiki 
River, and then the Ukassa Rapids were reached. 
These were passed in safety, one portion of the expedi- 
tion on the bank, the remainder in canoes. So the jour- 
ney continued, but under very depressing circum- 
stances, for the natives, when not openly hostile, left 



STANLEY'S EXPLORATION OF THE CONGO, jg^ 

their villages, and would hol'd no communication with 
the strangers. Sickness was universal. Small-pox, 
dysentery, and other diseases raged, and every day a 
body or two was tossed into the river. A canoe was 
found, repaired, and constituted the hospital, and so was 
towed down stream. On December 8, a skirmish oc- 
curred, but speedily ended in -the defeat of the savages, 
who had used poisoned arrows. Again, another serious 
fight ensued, the savages rushing against the stockades 
which surrounded the camp, and displaying great de- 
termination. The attack was resumed at night. At 
daybreak, a part of the native town was occupied, and 
there again the fighting continued. The village was 
held, but the natives were still determined, and again 
attacked; the arrows fell thickly, and it was a very 
critical time for the voyagers. 

Fortunately the land division arrived and settled the 
matter. The savages disappeared, and the marching 
detachment united with Stanley's crews. That night 
Pocock was sent out to cut away the enemy's canoes, 
and the danger was over. But now the Arab escort, 
which had joined Stanley at Nyangwe, became rebel- 
lious, and infected the rest. Stanley feared that all 
his people would mutiny, but he managed them with a 
firm and friendly hand. All this time the people had 
been dying of fever, small-pox and poisoned arrows, 
and constant attacks of the enemy prevented burial of 
the dead or attendance of the sick and wounded. 

On December 26, after a merry Christmas, consider- 
ing the circumstances, the expedition embarked, 149 
in all, not a man having deserted. On January 4, 
1877, they reached the first of a series of cataracts, 
nov/ named Stanley Falls. This was a cannibal country, 
13 



194 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



and the man-eaters hunted the voyagers '* like game." 
For 24 days the conflict continued, fighting, foot by foot, 
the 40 miles or so which were covered by the cataracts, 
and which the expedition had to follow by land, forag- 
ing, fighting, encamping, dragging the fleet of canoes, 
all the time with their lives in their hands, cutting their 
away aHke through the forest and their deadly enemies. 

Yet, as soon as he had avoided the cannibals on land, 
they came after him on the water. A flotilla of 54 
canoes, some of great size, with a total of nearly 2000 
warriors, were formidable obstacles in the way. But dis- 
cipline and gunpowder won the day, and the natives were 
dispersed with great loss and the village plundered of 
its ivory. In effecting this great success Stanley only 
lost one man, making the sixteenth since the expedition 
had left Nyangwe. 

Some of the cataracts Stanley describes as magnifi- 
cent, the current boiling and leaping in waves six feet 
high. The width in places is 2000 feet, narrowing at 
the falls. After the great naval battle, Stanley found 
friendly tribes who informed him the river, the Lualaba, 
which* he had named the Livingtone, was surely the 
Congo. Here was a great geographical problem settled. 
Proceeding on his way, Stanley encountered further de- 
termined opposition, but he overcame all resistance and 
pushed on rapidly. Soon the friendly tribes were again 
met with, and at length the warfare with man ceased, 
but the struggle with the Congo continued. 

There are 57 cataracts and rapids in the course of 
the river from Nyangw6 to the ocean, a distance of 
1800 miles. One portion of 180 miles took the ex- 
plorer five months. During that terrible passage, of 
which graphic details are given in his work, he lost 



196 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



many of his followers, including the brave Pocock and 
Kalulu — the black boy. 

March 12 found them in a wide reach of the river, 
named Stanley Pool, and below that they '' for the first 
time heard the low and sullen thunder of the Living- 
stone Falls." From this date the river was the chief 
enemy, and at the cataracts the stream flows, like a mill- 
race. The canoes suffered or were lost in the " cal- 
dron," and portages became necessary. The men were 
hurt also; and Stanley had a fall, and was half-stunned. 
There were only 17 canoes remaining on March 27. 
The descent was made along shore below Rocky Island 
Falls, and in gaining the camping-place, Kalulu, in the 
Crocodile canoe, was lost. This boat got into mid- 
stream, and went gliding over the smooth, swift rivfer 
to destruction. Nothing could save it or its occu- 
pants. It whirled round three or four times, plunged 
into the depths, and Kalulu and his canoe-mate were 
seen no more. Nine men, including others in other 
canoes, who were likewise swept over, were lost that 
day. By April 2 1 thirty-seven days had passed in cover- 
ing 34 miles. One big fall only remained, the voyagers 
were told, and so they resolved to persevere till they 
had passed it; but subsequently, on May 17, a chief in- 
formed them that five falls were in front. Mowa was 
quitted on June 3, and a new camp was to be pitched 
above the great cataract, near Zinga. These falls proved 
to be whirpools, and not rapids. Stanley went up to 
Zinga Point to survey the rapids, when he perceived a 
canoe tumbling about in the Massassa Pool. It was 
capsized, and he sent men to aid the wrecked with 
ropes in the little bay to which the current tended. 

The men struggled to avoid the cataract, and impelled 



STANLEY'S EXPLORATION OF THE CONGO, igj 

the boat toward the land. They gained it nearly, 
then they swam ashore, while the current swept the 
canoe away into the whirlpools. Eight only of the 
occupants were saved. Three were lost and one was 
Pocock, " Little Master," as he was called. By some 
fatal rashness he had urged the coxswain, against his 
will, to try the stream, and though repeatedly told of 
the danger, he had persisted in urging the men to the 
attempt. He paid a heavy penalty for his rashness. 

The descent by the river had cost Stanley, besides 
Pocock, and many of the natives, 1800 dollars' worth of 
ivory, 12 canoes, and a mutiny, not to mention grave 
anxiety and incessant cares and conflicts. 

After a weary time, nearly starved, the remainder of 
the expedition, reduced to 115 persons, arrived at Boma, 
on August 9, 1877, nine months from the date they left 
Nyangw^. Stanley thus demonstrated that the Lualaba 
is the Congo, and opened up a splendid waterway into 
the interior of the '' Dark Continent,'' which the Afri- 
can International Association — founded by the King 
of the. Belgians, in 1876, for the suppression of the 
slave-trade and the civilization of the interior — has 
planted with stations over a wide extent of country. 

At the request of the enlightened ruler of Belgium, 
Stanley undertook the task of organizing the adminis- 
tration of the Congo Free State, which received its first 
impulse from the great explorer, who returned to Africa 
in the following year to start the infant State on its 
course of progress and civilization. Under the rule of 
Stanley the Congo Free State became a pattern to the 
other Colonies of what such an administration should 
be, and, but for his untimely end, General Gordon would 
have carried on the grand work of civilization. 



CHAPTER XVI. 
Stanley's Rescue of Emin Pasha. 

One of the results of the abandonment of the Soudan 
by the Egyptian Government was that Emin Pasha, 
governor* of the Equatorial Province, was placed in 
great jeopardy after the death of General Gordon at 
Khartoum, in January, 1885. A Relief Committee was 
formed in London, and a sum of ^100,000 was sub- 
scribed, including 1^50,000 from the Egyptian Govern- 
ment, and ;$5,ooo from the Geographical Society. 

From accounts which leaked out of Emin Pasha's 
position, in which English people took a keen interest, 
as in great part due to the policy forced on the Khedive 
by the action of their Government, it seemed that he 
remained undisturbed till the beginning of 1874, when 
the Mahdi's followers invaded the Bahr-el-Ghazel Prov- 
ince, and carried off its governor, Lupton Bey. Emin, 

* The other governors under General Gordon's orders as Governor- 
General of the Soudan, were Slatin Bey, in Kordofan, and Lupton 
Bey in the Bahr-el-Ghazel Province. Not long after Gordon's death, 
SlMin surrendered his province to the Mahdi, and Lupton, being 
attacked, also yielded obedience, and became, like Slatin, an enslaved 
caj^tive. Emin alone held out and defended himself successfully 
against all the efforts of llie Mahdist j^enerals, withdrawing from po- 
sition tu posiiion, and stubbornly defending each in turn. 

(198) 



STANLEY'S RESCUE OF EMIN PASHA. 



199 



expecting that he would soon be assailed, withdrew all 
his troops and stores from Lado to Wadelai. In this 
remote corner of Central Africa, whence he was rescued 




EMIN PASHA, 



by Stanley, he was able to carry on his work unmolested. 
±5ut discontent was brewing among his people, and 
supplies and ammunition were running short. 

Emin wrote from Lado, November 16, 1884, imploring 



200 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

Mr. Mackey, the English Missionary, to inform his cor- 
respondents that by their aid the Egyptian Government 
might learn his position, and help be sent to him, or, as 
he said, '' we perish." 

On January I, 1886, he wrote, *' Two years and a half 
are passed away since I had the last news from our 
Government. The Bahr-el-Ghazel Province (Lupton 
Bey's) has been overwhelmed by the followers of the 
false prophet, and with the greatest exertions only I 
have been able to preserve this province (the Equa- 
torial) from a similar fate. I have lost a good many 
gallant men ; we rest now a little flock in the midst of 
thousands of negroe^s. Our munitions are nearly ex- 
hausted, our people short of their most modest wants 
(clothing) ; our way to the north has now been cut off 
by Arabs and negroes. So I came here and opened 
intercourse with the King of Unyoro, who kindly as- 
sisted me, and I venture now to forward you some 
letters by way of Uganda and Unyanyembe, requesting 
you most earnestly to send the despatches for the Prime 
Minister in Cairo as soon as possible by way of your 
official post. The existence of our people may depend 
upon them." 

Emin wrote in a similar strain to the Anti-Slavery 
Society. These letters appealed to the generous in- 
stincts of the English people, who, after the death of 
Gordon, and the fate of Lupton and Slatin, recognized 
in the Governor of the Equatorial Province the last 
of the lieutenants of their great and much re- 
gretted countryman. When suggestions for his relief 
began to take shape, Stanley was applied to, just as he 
was about to leave England for America on a lecturing 
tour. Asked, '' Would you be willing to lead the Relief 



STANLEY^ S RESCUE OF EMIN PASHA. 



201 



Expedition ? " he replied, " If your choice devolves 
on me, and you are really in earnest, I will accept the 
command instantly and gratuitously ; but if the choice 
of the Committee devolves on Mr. Thompson, I will 
subscribe ^2500 to the Relief Fund." 

In a letter dated November 15, 1886, Stanley ex- 
presses his readiness to go at once, and states that he 
had been examining the question of routes, of which he 
said there were four from which to select. He was 
allowed to proceed to America, but on December 11, 
he was telegraphed, in the following terms : '' Your 
plan and offer accepted. Authorities approve. Funds 
provided. Business urgent. Come promptly. Reply.'* 

The answer came from New York ; ''Just received 
Monday's cablegram. Many thanks. Everything all 
right. Will sail per Eider. If good weather and iDar- 
ring accidents, arrive December 22, Southampton It is 
only one month's delay, after all. Tell authorities pre- 
pare Holmwood, Zanzibar, and Seyyid Barghash " 
Thus the work of the rescue of Emin Pasha was fairly 
started*. ^ 

Shortly after his arrival in England, Stanley paid a 
visit to the King of the Belgians, at Brussels, in whose 
service he was still retained. After mature consideration, 
the route by the Congo was chosen as the most desirable,' 
and Stanley had reason to congratulate himself on the 
selection. 

On this point of route, Stanley says that the simple 
reason why he adopted that by the Congo, was " to en- 
sure success." When the expedition was committed to 
his charge, he decided instantly in favor of the Congo 
route. Both routes, by the east and west coasts, wel-e 
familiar to him for nine-tenths of the distance, as he had 



202 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

penetrated to within 150 miles of Lake Albert from 
Zanzibar, and 320 miles from the side of the Congo. 
But the Emin Relief Committee expressed their prefer- 
ence for the route from the east coast, and preparations 
were at once set on foot with that object. Under 
orders sent to Zanzibar, several' tons of rice were for- 
warded 200 miles inland, 60 baggage animals, and 
$2000 worth of saddlery were purchased, besides goods 
valued at 5SOOO, and one steel boat was ordered. 

The Congo route was adopted, not however, so com- 
pletely but that a change might be effected any mo- 
ment, if it were necessary, on arriving at Zanzibar. 
This change of route, had one mischievous effect. 
There was no time to order the construction of a steam 
flotilla, which would have carried the entire expedition 
up the Congo, to within 60 miles of the Albert Nyanza, 
and he had to be content with one boat only, and ar- 
range that a rear column should follow with the re- 
mainder of the men and stores. 

Meantime, Stanley was busy collecting supplies and 
selecting a staff of officers to accompany him. He re- 
ceived hundreds of applications from all parts. The 
task of making a selection was a difficult one, but the 
result has proved that the choice was judicious. 

The following were selected — Major Edmund Bartte- 
lot, distinguished in Afghanistan and the Nile cam- 
paigns ; Lieutenant W. G. Stairs, of the Royal Engi- 
neers, lately engaged on the survey in New Zealand ; 
Captain R. H. Nelson, who had served in Zululand and 
against the Basutos ; Surgeon T. H. Parke, Army 
Medical Department; A. M. Bonny, of the same service ; 
John Rose Troup, Herbert Ward, an explorer in Bor- 
neo and New Zealand. Two gentlemen, Mounteney 



STANLEY'S RESCUE OF EMIN PASHA. 



203 



Jephson and J. S. Jameson, having applied rather late, 
were admitted upon payment of $5000 each, which 
sums were added to the Rehef Fund. Of these gentle- 
men, Major Barttelot and Mr. Jameson never returned. 

Quitting England in January, 1887, Stanley arrived 
at Alexandria on the 27th, and, proceeding on to Cairo, 
had interviews there with the Khedive and Mr. Junker, 
who was return- 
ing after many 
years* absence in 
the Soudan and 
Equatorial Af- 
rica. Zanzibar 
was reached on 
February 21, and 
so well had ev- 
erything been ar- 
ranged, that, on 
the 25th, Stanley 
sailed from Zan- ^' 
zibar for the Con- 
go by the Cape 
of Good Hope. 

The personnel 
of the expedition 

consisted of 800 men. There were 1 1 English officers ; 
605 Zanzibari men and 12 Zanzibari boys; 62 Soudanese 
and 13 Soomaulis. In addition, there were embarked in 
the ship Tippoo Tib and 96 of his people. Some special 
mention is required of this remarkable Arab chief, who 
has played an important part in Central African explora- 
tions. While at Brussels, Stanley was consulted by the 
King of the Belgians respecting Tippoo Tib and the 




TIPPOO TIB. 



204 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



Congo State. He advised that he should be employed as 
an agent of the Congo State, it being a far cheaper and 
more humane method to disarm his hostility than the 
costly method of force, and he was entrusted with the 
mission to negotiate with him. With the aid of the 
Consul at Zanzibar, Tippoo Tib -was enlisted as the sal- 
aried governor of the Stanley Falls region, whose duty 
it would be to arrest the advance of the Arabs down 
the Con^o and to save the stations on its banks from 
the devastation which, in 1883, had already commenced 
below the Falls. Stanley also obtained Tippoo's sig- 
nature to a formal contract, that he would furnish him 
with a contingent of 600 Manyuema carriers, to be paid 
for at the rate of thirty dollars a head, to assist in th 
carriage of the goods and ammunition for Emin Pasha's 
force, for which promise he was given a free passage for 
himself and 96 of his followers from Zanzibar to Stanley 
Falls, and also free rations. 

On March 24, 1887, the expedition began the over- 
land march to Leopoldville, at Stanley Pool, 235 miles 
from Metadi, which was reached on April 21. Three 
days after Stanley mustered his force, when it was found 
that the number was already reduced by 63 men and 28 
rifles out of 524. Three-fourths of this loss was due to 
desertion, which is characteristic of an expedition con- 
sisting of Zanzibaris. *' It is a proof," he says, *' if any 
were needed, of the disaster that would have overtaken 
us had we proceeded by any East African route on such 
a distant mission." Yet this was but the beginning of 
his troubles on this head. Desertion continued from 
the day he began the land march at Metadi, until he ar- 
rived within a few days' march of Zanzibar. 

At Stanley Pool it was found that the steamers prom- 



STANLEY'S RESCUE OF EM IN PASHA. ^O? 

ised by the King of the Belgians were not ready, though 
after undergoing some repairs, the Stanley was made 
available. There remained the steamer Peace of the 
Baptist Mission, and \.\i^ Henry Reed, of the Livingstone 
Mission. On the steamer Peace, and two boats, were 
embarked 112 people and their loads; the Henry Reed 
and two boats held 131 and their loads, and the steamer 
Stanley, with the hulk Florida, took up 364— total 607 
The flotilla steamed from Stanley Pool on May i' and 
on the 1 2th arrived at Bolobo. The ^/a«/<^ steamer 
was instantly despatched back again down stream for 
the remainder of the men who were marching aloncr the 
south bank of the Congo from the Pool, and the ex- 
pedition was assembled at Bolobo by May 14. Leaving 
131 men at Bolobo, under Ward and Bonny, the flotilla 
resumed its journey up the river. 

On June 16. after a voyage of 1050 miles from Stan- 
ley Pool, the flotilla made fast to the landing-place of 
Yambuya, on the Lower Aruwhimi, just below the first 
rapids, and without trouble or bloodshed occupied the 
village. Meantime the Henry Reed and lighters had 
been despatched to Stanley Falls with Tippoo Tib and 
his people, who had thus been saved a year's journev 
on foot. . i y 

When the flotilla parted, Tippoo Tib said that, nine 
days after arrival at his station, he would set out with 
his 600 carriers for Yambuya camp, to join Stanley in 
his march to the Albert Nyanza. 

If Tippoo Tib arrived with his carriers. Major Bartte- 
lot was to march with his column and follow Stanley's 
track, which, as long as it traversed the forest region 
would be known by the " blazing " of the trees and by 
the camps, but in the event of Tippoo Tib and his 



2o6 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 

carriers not coming as promised, he was to proceed by 
double or treble stages until he should be met by the 
advance column, under Stanley, returning from the 
Albert Nyanza to relieve him. 

On June 28, 1887, Stanley set out from Yambuya 
with the advance column, consisting of Captain Nelson, 
Lieutenant Stairs, Mr. Jephson and Dr. Parke, and 389 
men, and set his face on his adventurous journey through 
the forest. The objective point was Kavalli, distant, in 
a direct line from Yambuya, 322 miles, and until it was 
traversed by the expedition, the region was entirely un- 
explored and untrodden by the foot of either white man 
or Arab. They bore with them a steel boat, twenty- 
eight feet by six feet, about three tons of ammunition, 
and two tons of provisions and sundries. Of the entire 
body of 389, some 180 were reserved men, half of 
whom were pioneers, carrying, besides their Winches- 
ter rifles, axes and bill-hooks to pierce the bush and cut 
down obstructions. 

He entered the forest with confidence, but on emerg- 
ing from its horrid shade, found that it extended in 
an unbroken wave, beginning at the confluence of the 
Congo with the Aruwhimi, and maintaining the same 
aspect, density and character, across nearly four and one- 
half degrees of longitude. Though daily expecting to 
hear from natives some news of a grassy country lying 
north, south, or east of them, it was not until they were 
seven days' march from the grassy region that they en- 
countered any one who had ever heard of grass-land. 
To the rest all the world was overgrown with one endless 
forest. 

For a few days after Stanley set out, news of him 
was received at the camp at Yambuya, and then, as he 



to 

o 




2o8 AFRICAN- EX PL ORA TlONS. 

plunged deeper into the recesses of the African forest, all 
intelligence of his movements was lost to the world. 
Many months rolled by and no word came of the ad- 
venturous traveler. Rumors were rife of a great disas- 
ter, in which those who believed in the boundless re- 
source and good luck of the remarkable man who 
had brought relief to Livingstone, placed, no credit. 
Reports were prevalent in the Soudan and were brought 
to Suakin of a white Pasha whom some thought was 
Stanley, and he was represented as a successful warrior 
who had scattered the forces of the Mahdi and was 
marching on Khartoum. But all was conjecture and, as 
month succeeded month, the prospect of success, or 
even of Stanley's emerging alive from that wilderness, 
grew fainter. 

The first definite news that arrived from the traveler 
was conveyed in a letter he had addressed to Tippoo Tib, 
dated, *' Boma of Banalaya (Urenia), August 17, 1888," 
giving information of his safety and of having success- 
fully performed his mission. This letter, which was 
brought by a messenger to Stanley Falls, reached Brus- 
sels on January 15, 1889. The remainder of the let- 
ters brought by this man remained at Stanley Falls, and 
did not arrive in Europe till the end of March. 

And now we will follow Stanley*s slow and pain- 
ful steps on his journey to Emin Pasha at Wadelai, on 
the Albert Nyanza, and back again to the vicinity of 
his " good friend,'* or as he was to find him, his faithless 
ally, Tippoo Tib. 

On June 28, the expedition quitted the camp at 
Yambuya, carrying 50,000 rounds of Remington am- 
munition and a ton of gunpowder as a first instalment 
of relief for Emin Pasha. They followed the river- 



STANLEY'S RESCUE OF EMIN PASHA. 209 

bank, and at the end of a march of 12 miles arrived in the 
district of Yaukonde. Only the first five miles of this 
first day's march were tolerable, and then they had diffi- 
culties which impeded their movements and arrested 
progress for 160 days. These consisted of creepers 
varying from one-eighth of an inch to 15 inches in 
diameter, swinging across the path in " bow-lines," or 
loops, sometimes massed and twisted together, also of a 
low, dense bush, occupying the sites of old clearings, 
which had to be cut through before a passage was possi- 
ble for the carriers, so that the pioneers with their axes 
and bill-hooks had no sinecures. During a great por- 
tion of each day the darkness was increased by the 
heavily-charged rain clouds. 

The inhabitants of this forbidding region were in 
keeping with their sinister surroundings, being wild, 
savage and vindictive. The race of dwarfs called 
Wambutti were even worse. These pigmies were 
known to exist nine centuries before the Christian era. 
The geographer Hipparchus located these dwarfs near 
the Equator, close to the Mountains of the Moon, 
where Stanley discovered them twenty-three centuries 
later. 

Stanley describes his first interview with this ancient 
and interesting race : — ** Near a place called Avetiko, on 
the Ituri River, our hungry men found the first male and 
female of the pigmies squatted in the midst of a wild 
Eden, peeling plantains. You can imagine what a shock 
it was to the poor little creatures at finding themselves 
suddenly surrounded by gigantic Soudanese, six feet 
four inches in height, nearly double their own height 
and weight, and black as coal. But my Zanzibaris, 
always more tender-hearted than the Soudanese, pre- 
14 



2 1 o AFRICAN EXPL OR A TIONS. 

vented the clubbed rifles and cutlasses from extinguish- 
ing their lives there and then, and brought them to me 
as prizes. The height of the man was four feet ; that of 
the woman a little less. He may have weighed about 85 
pounds; the color of the body was that of a half-baked 
brick, and a light brown fell stood out very clearly. So 
far as natural intelligence was concerned, within his 
limited experience, he was certainly superior to any 
black man in our camp. 

*'We began to question him by gestures. ' Do you 
know where we can get bananas ? ' 

*' He grasps his leg to show us the size, and nods his 
head rapidly, informing us that he knows where to find 
bananas about the size of his leg. 

** We point to the four quarters of the compass, ques- 
tioningly. He points to the sunrise in reply. 

"*Is it far?' 

" He shows a hand's length. Ah, a good day's jour- 
ney without loads, two days with loads. 

" 'Do you know the Iburu ? ' He nods his head 
rapidly. 

*'*How far is it?' He rests his right hand sideways 
on the elbow-joint. 

" ' Oh, four days' journey.' 

" I suppose we must have passed through as many as 
100 villages inhabited by the pigmies. Long, however, 
before we reached them they were deserted and utterly 
cleared out. Our foragers and scouts may have captured 
about 50 of these dwarfs, only one of whom reached the 
height of 54 inches. They varied from 39 to 50 inches 
generally. 

*'The agricultural settlements in this region are to be 
found every nine or ten miles apart, and near each set- 



STANLEY'S RESCUE OF EMIN PASHA. 2II 

tlement, at an hour's march distance, will be found from 
four to eight pigmy villages situated along the paths 
leading to it. 

** The larger aborigines are very industrious, and form 
a clearing of 400 to looo acres. Amid the prostrate 
forest they plant their banana and plantain bulbs, and in 
12 months the trees are almost hidden by the luxuriant 
fronds and abundant fruit of unrivaled quality, size and 
flavor. A forest village consists of from 20 to 100 
families of pigmies, and probably in that area between 
the Iburu and Ituri Rivers there are as many as 2000 
families living this nomadic and free life in the per- 
petual twilight of the great and umbrageous forest of 
Equatorial Africa." 

On the first day of the journey in the forest they were 
attacked. The people set fire to their villages, and under 
cover of the smoke attacked the pioneers, when a 
skirmish ensued. The expedition had scarcely begun 
to traverse the inhospitable region between Yambuya 
and the grass-land within 50 miles of the Albert 
Nyanza, than they were initiated into the subtleties of 
savage warfare practised by the inhabitants, great and 
small alike. The path frequently had shallow pits, filled 
with sharpened splinters, or skewers, covered over with 
large leaves, which for barefooted people proved a terri- 
ble infliction. Often the skewers would perforate the 
feet quite through, in other cases the tops would be 
buried in the feet, causing gangrenous sores. In this 
manner the men were so lamed that few of them re- 
covered to be of much further use. 

On the second day they followed a path leading in- 
land, but trending east, and for five days they continued 
on this road, through a dense population. On July 5, 



212 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 

they diverged and struck the river again. As it was 
apparently free from rapids, Stanley launched the boat, 
as she not only carried the cripples, but also relieved 
the carriers of two tons. 

From July 5, to October 18, they clung to the left 
bank of the Aruwhimi River. In favor of this course 
was the certainty of obtaining food, but its immense 
curves and long trend north-east caused Stanley, at 
times, to doubt the wisdom of so doing. The river re- 
tained " the width of from 500 to 900 yards, with an 
island here and there, the resort of oyster fishermen, 
whose calling was manifest by the piles of oyster shells " 
— one Stanley measured being 30 paces long, 12 feet 
wide at the base, and 4 feet high. 

At almost every bend of the river was a village of 
conical huts, and in some of the bends were many villages, 
populated by some thousands of natives. After 17 
days* continuous marching they halted for one day*s 
rest, and, during the month of July, only four halts 
were made. They reached the Mariri Rapids on the 
17th of that month, and those of Bandeya on the 25th. 
On August I, the first death took place, but as they 
entered a wilderness, which occupied nine days to trav- 
erse, their sufferings increased, and several deaths oc- 
curred. Any attempts to deal with the natives for food 
by means of barter were useless. They would declare 
that they had none. Ultimately, Stanley and his men 
helped themselves to what they required in order to 
maintain life, and prepared food for the wilderness al- 
ready referred to, where no food was procurable. 

Above Panga the falls became more frequent. The 
character of the architecture, and of the language, had 
now changed. Below, the huts were of the '' candle- 



214 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

extinguisher *' order ; and, above the Rapids, the villages 
consisted of detached square huts, surrounded by tall 
logs, which formed separate courts. The walls of the 
huts are also screened with logs, precautions the natives 
are compelled to adopt against the poisoned arrows in 
use throughout the region. 

At Avisibba, situated about midway between the 
Falls of Panga and the Nepoko, a tributary stream, the 
natives made a determined attack on a boatload of for- 
agers. Five men were wounded with poisoned arrows, 
and also Lieut. Stairs. Fortunately the poison, in his 
case, was dry, having, in all probability, been put on 
some days before, and it was three weeks before he re- 
covered his strength, though the wound was not closed 
for months. In the case of every wounded man death 
ensued from tetanus. 

On revisiting this place, on their return march to 
relieve the rear column, Stanley discovered the na- 
ture of the poison. In the huts were several packets 
of dried red ants. These insects were ground into 
powder when in this state, and cooked in palm oil, 
w^hen they were smeared over the wooden points of 
the arrows. 

On August 15, Mr. Jephson, in command of the land 
party, led his men inland, and, losing his way, was not 
reunited with the main column until the 2 1st. Four 
days after, forming a junction, the expedition arrived 
opposite the mouth of the Nepoko. After a few days 
it was found that progress by the river became im- 
possible. The canoes and steel boat were accordingly 
emptied of their loads, and the expedition started on 
the second stage of its journey, but famine, dysentery 
and ulcers had so sapped the strength of a great many 



STANLEY'S RESCUE OF EMIN PASHA. 215 

of the men that they could, with difficulty, stag<^er 
along under their loads. 

On August 21 the expedition encoantered a party of 
Manyuema, belonging to the caravan of Ugarrowwa or 
Uledi Balyuz. formerly a tent-boy of Speke, now be- 
come a wealthy and important personage. Up to this 
date Stanley had adopted the Congo route to avoid the 
Arabs, who he knew would tamper with his men and 
tempt them to desert. Within three days of this meet- 
ing no less than 26 men deserted. On September 16 
they arrived at a camp opposite Ugarrowwa's station 
but as food was very scarce. Stanley pushed on after a 
halt of only one day. AH the Soomaulis, 5 1 in num- 
ber and five of the Soudanese, preferred to remain be- 
hmd at this station, to the continuous marching which 
would have been certain death to them owing'^to their 
state of health. Stanley arranged with Ugarrowwa to 
feed them, at five dollars a month for each man 

Between September 18 and October 18 the expedition 
was only able to traverse 50 miles of ground, to a 
settlement about 460 miles from Yambuya. It was the 
most terrible part of the journey, owing to the Arabs 
having so devastated the country that no food was pro- 
curable They lived on fungi, a large bean-shaped nut 
and wild fruit, and those who could not get sufficient 
perished or deserted the famine-stricken column to die 
elsewhere. Of the sufferings he and his followers had 
endured on this occasion Stanley says: • 

"For six weeks they had not seen a bit of meat ; for 
ten days they had not seen a banana or grain, and the 
faces of the people were getting leaner and their bodies 
were getting thinner, and their strength was fadincr 
day by day. One day the officers asked him if he had 



2 1 6 AFRICAN EXP LOR A 7 IONS. 

seen anything like it in any African expedition before. 
He replied, * No,' though he remembered on a former 
occasion when they were nine days without food, and 
ended their famine with a fight. Then, however, they 
knew where there was grain, and all they had to do was 
to hurry on ; but in the late expedition they had been 
ten days without food, and they did not know where 
their hunger was to terminate. They were all sitting 
down at the time, and he expressed his belief that the 
age of miracles was not altogether past. Moses struck 
water out of the Horeb rock, the Israelites were fed 
with manna in the wilderness, and he told them that he 
did not think they should be surprised to see some 
miracle for themselves — perhaps on the morrow or the 
following day. He had scarcely finished, when some 
guinea fowl flocked round them and were at once 
seized." 

On October i8, they entered the settlement occupied 
by Kilonga-Longa. " No one," says Stanley, " white 
or black, belonging to the expedition, will ever for- 
get that awful month." On leaving Ugarrowwa's 
station, the party numbered 273 souls, having left 56 
there, and lost the balance by desertion and death. On 
reaching Ipoto, the Arab station of Kilonga-Longa, the 
column was still further reduced by the loss of 56 men 
from death or desertion. 

To obtain food the starving men sold their ammuni- 
tion, so that 3000 rounds were thus made away with. 
Over 30 rifles were also sold, and some of the people 
disposed of their clothes and equipments, and even en- 
tered the tents of the European officers by night and 
stole their bedding, which they disposed of to the slaves 
at the station. Surgeon Parke lost his entire kit of 



STANLEY'S RESCUE OF EMIN PASHA. 



217 



clothing; Captain Nelson had his blankets stolen, and 
Stanley lost his cutlery and spoons. The bonds of dis- 
cipline were relaxed by the continuous suffering they 
had endured, and the people were thoroughly demor- 
alized and jeered at their leaders. ** It required," says 
Stanley, *' an infinite patience. to bear with their taunts 
and insolence. But their sufferings were great. They 
might have proceeded to extremities, and murdered the 
European officers who had beguiled them into this in- 
terminable forest only to die of starvation, and that 
they did not do so seems wonderful." 

Stanley, finding that expostulations and mild punish- 
ments were of no avail, took two of the worst offenders, 
and hanged them in the presence of their comrades. 

When the expedition issued from Kilonga-Longa's 
station to prosecute the march, the people were beg- 
gared, and some were almost naked. They had be- 
come so weakened by starvation that they were com- 
pelled to leave behind their boat, and about 70 loads of 
goods. In charge of these remained Surgeon Parke 
and Captain Nelson, who were unable to travel. 

A march of 12 days, almost in a direct line, brought 
them to Ibwiri, within a few miles of which the Arab 
devastations had been carried. Between this point and 
Kilonga-Longa's station not a hut had been left stand- 
ing, and what man had not laid waste, the elephants 
had destroyed, so that the whole region was a howling 
waste. But at Ibwiri they entered upon a region of 
plenty, supporting a large population. 

Their sufferings from hunger, which began August 3 1 , 
ended on November 12, by which date Stanley and 
his men were reduced to the condition of skeletons, and 
many of them were almost at the last gasp. Out of 



2i8 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

389, which they numbered at the start from Yambuya, 
only 174 were left. In this land of plenty, where sup- 
plies were plentiful, a halt was made for the column to 
recuperate. 

A relief party was sent back to bring on Captain Nel- 
son and the sick men left at the station, which received 
the name of *' Starvation Camp." This party was con- 
ducted by Jephson, of whom his leader says : 

"The relief of Captain Nelson at Starvation Camp is 
a striking example of spirit, courage, and celerity of 
movement. Poor Nelson had been left in a most for- 
lorn situation to await supplies of food for himself and 
52 sick men who were unable to travel. For 18 days 
we had been unable to obtain carriers, but finally Jeph- 
son volunteered to return about 50 miles to convey 
food to the party. What had taken the wearied, suffer- 
ing expedition twelve days he performed in two and a 
half days, and arrived when the party had been reduced 
to Nelson and five men. A few more days and not one 
would have lived to tell the tale. The enfeebled rem- 
nant was saved and brought safely, and left in the 
charge of Surgeon Parke." 

Captain Nelson's position had been a truly desperate 
one, and he, like the other officers of the expedition, 
displayed great qualities. Stanley writes : 

*' No position was worse calculated to inspire courage 
and the virtue of endurance than the unhappy one 
which Captain Nelson was by force of adverse circum- 
stances compelled to fill in October, 1887. There were 
52 men most wofuUy smitten with disease of all kinds, 
and there was not a particle of provisions to be obtained 
in the neighborhood. The outlook was of the gloomiest 
kind. We left them with a promise that as soon as food 



STANLEY'S RESCUE OF EMIN PASHA. 



219 



could be procured we should send some to them. For 
12 days the expedition labored on and searched one 



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FIRST SIGHT OF THE ALBERT NYANZA. 



bank after another without success. Six of the most 
intelligent chiefs had been despatched in advance. 



2 20 AFRICAN EX PL OR A TIONS. 

While these were wandering hopelessly bewildered by 
the apparently illimitable waste of woods, the expedi- 
tion on the 1 2th day stumbled across an Arab settle- 
ment. Despite every effort, no relief party could be 
sent for nine days more and then, after 25 days' absence, 
Jephson found Nelson still in" the camp with the dead, 
and only five left out of the 52. Those who had not 
died had fled or been lost. 

** Hitherto," says Stanley, " our people were sceptical 
of what we told them, the suffering had been so awful, 
calamities so numerous, the forest so apparently endless, 
and they refused to believe that soon they should come 
to a land of grass, with cattle, and reach the Nyanza 
and Emin Pasha, whom they had come to rescue. 
They regarded it all as a pleasing tale, and the farther 
they were led into the recesses of the forest, the more 
hopeless appeared their condition." Stanley would say 
to them: *' Cheer up, boys ; beyond this lies a country 
where food is abundant, and where you will forget your 
miseries. Be men ; press on a little faster." But they 
turned a deaf ear to his entreaties. Now, however, all 
was changed, and they regarded him with wonder as a 
superior being. 

The expedition halted 13 days at Ibwiri, and revelled 
in fowls, goat's flesh, bananas, sweet potatoes and corn. 
The result was that when Stanley started, November 
24, to make the 126 miles still intervening between this 
station and the Albert Nyanza Lake, the force was 
transformed from 173 skeletons — one had been killed by 
an arrow — to that number of strong, robust men, fit for 
any toil, and full of hope. On December i they 
sighted the open country from the top of a ridge con- 
nected with Mount Pisgah, so named from their first 



222 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

view of the Land of Promise beyond. A few more 
days' march, and on December 5 they emerged at length 
from the forest upon the plains. 

When in England, Stanley thought he had made a 
liberal allowance when he set down a fortnight as 
the time that would be required for traversing this 
forest, but 160 days had elapsed while they, made their 
painful and laborious way through that region of gloom 
and despair. That any member of the expedition 
should have issued alive out of this terrible forest, so de- 
structive of life and depressing to the spirits, is mar- 
velous, and no words can do justice to the buoyant 
courage of the leader of this forlorn hope of civiliza- 
tion, who never faltered, or lost faith, when success 
seemed hopeless. 

But they had now issued from the Cimmerian dark- 
ness of the forest into the light of open day, with the 
blue vault of heaven overhead, and the rays of the blessed 
sun shedding warmth and happiness into their hearts. 
Stanley describes the scene : *' Emerging from the forest, 
finally, we all became enraptured. Like a captive set 
free, we rejoiced at sight of the blue light of heaven, 
and freely bathed in the warm sunshine, and aches and 
gloomy thoughts were banished. We raced with our 
loads over a wide, unfenced field, and herds of buffalo, 
eland, and roan antelope, stood on either hand with 
pointed ears and wide eyes, wondering at the sudden 
wave of human beings, yelling with joy.*' 

After a brief period of license, order was restored 
in the column, and the march was resumed. They en- 
tered the villages of the open country and regaled them- 
selves on melons, plantains, bananas, and great pots full 
of wine. The fowls were chased, killed and cooked, and 



224 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



the goats were seized and decapitated. Every village 
was well stocked with provisions, and the men quickly 
regained their strength; and had spirit to undertakeanv- 
thing. 

It was fortunate it was so, as they met with armed op- 
position from the inhabitants the whole way intervening 
between the forest and the Albert Lake. The region 
they were now about to traverse is inhabited by rem- 
nants of tribes who have migrated from Unyoro, Itoro, 
from the southward, and from other tribes to the north- 
ward. 

The villages were scattered over a great extent of 
country so thickly that there was no other road except 
through them or the fields. From a long distance the 
natives had sighted the expedition, and prepared to stop 
their progress. '* The war-cries were terrible ; from 
hill to hill they were sent pealing across the valleys, the 
people gathered by hundreds from every point, and 
war-horns and drums announced that a struggle was 
about to take place. Such natives as became too bold 
were checked with but little effort, and a slight skirmish 
ended in the capture of a cow, the first beef tasted 
since we left the ocean. The night passed peacefully, 
both sides preparing for the morrow." 

On December lo, Stanley attempted to open negotia- 
tions. The natives were anxious to know who they 
were, and the intruders were desirous to learn details 
of the people that barred the way. . Hours were passed 
talking, both parties keeping a respectable distance apart. 
The parties said they were subject to Uganda, but that 
Kabba-Rega, the ruler of Unyoro, son of Mtesa, was 
their real King, Mazamboni holding the country for 
Kabba-Rega. They finally accepted cloth and brass 



STAJVLEY'S RESCUE OF EMIN PASHA, 



225 



rods to show Mazamboni, and his answer was to be 
given on the following day. In the meantime, all hos- 
tilities were suspended. 

The morning of the nth dawned, and they were told 
that it was Mazamboni's wish that they should be driven 
back from the land. 

" Our hill," says Stanley, " stood between a lofty 
range of hills and a lower range. On one side of us 
was a narrow valley, about 250 yards wide, on the other 
side the valley was three miles wide. East and west of 
us the valley broadened into an extensive plain. The 
higher range of hill was lined with hundreds preparing 
to descend, and the broader valley was already muster- 
ing its hundreds. There was no time to lose. A body 
of 40 men was sent, under Lieutenant Stairs, to attack 
the broader valley, Jephson marched with 30 men east, 
and a choice body of sharpshooters was sent to test the 
courage of those descending the slope of the higher 
range. Stairs pressed on, crossed a deep and narrow 
river in the face of hundreds of natives, and assaulted 
the first village and took it. The sharpshooters drove 
the descending natives rapidly up the slope until it be- 
came a general fight. Meantime Jephson was not idle. 
He marched straight up the valley east, driving the 
people back and taking their villages as he went. By 
3 p. M. there was not a native visible anywhere, except 
on one small hill about a mile and a half west of us. 
On the 1 2th we continued our march — during the day 
we had four little fights. On the 13th marched straight 
east, attacked by new forces every hour until noon, 
when we halted for refreshments. 

'' The Remington rifles of the column were too much 
for undisciplined valor. The 50 miles of intervening 

IS 



226 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 

open country was now traversed, and 15 minutes 
after, Stanley cried out, * Prepare yourselves for a sight 
of the Nyanza/ 

" The men murmured and doubted, and said, * Why 
does the master continually talk to us in this way ? 
Nyanza, indeed ! Is not this a plain and can we not see 
mountains at least four days' march ahead of us ? ' " 

But, true enough, at midday the Albert Nyanza was 
below them. Now it was the turn of their leader to 
jibe at the doubters, but as he was about to ask them 
what they saw, ** so many came to kiss my hand, and 
beg my pardon, that I could not say a word. This was 
my reward." 

The mountains, they learned, were the mountains of 
Unyoro. Kavalli, the objective point of the expedition, 
was six miles distant as the crow flies. They stood at an 
altitude of 5200 feet above the sea, and 2900 feet below 
them glistened the waters of the southern end of the 
Albert Nyanza. Right across to the eastern side, every 
dent in its low, flat shores was visible, and, traced like a 
silver snake on a dark ground, was the tributary Semliki, 
flowing into the Albert from the south-west. 

It was a memorable and proud moment in Stanley's 
life. After a short halt to enjoy the prospect, they com- 
menced the rugged and stony descent, to gain the ter- 
race that extends from the base of the plateau to the 
lake. Before the rear-guard had descended 1 00 feet, 
the natives of the plateau just left behind poured after 
them. Had they shown as much obstinacy on the plain 
as they now exhibited, the progress of the column 
might have been seriously delayed. The rear-guard 
was kept very busy until within a few hundred feet of 
the Nyanza plains. 



STANLEY'S RESCUE OF EMIN PASHA. 



227 



That night they camped at the foot of the plateau 
wall. An attack was made on the camp, but the enemy 
were easily disposed of. Continuing their march in 
the morning, the column approached the village of Ka- 
Kongo, situate at the south-west corner of the Albert 
Lake. Three hours were fruitlessly spent attempting 
to make friends. The natives would neither exchans^e 
** blood-brotherhood " with the strangers, because they 
never heard of any good people coming from the west 
end of the lake, nor would they accept any presents. 
They were civil enough, but wanted to be left alone. 
The column was shown the path and followed it for a 
few miles, when they camped about half a mile from the 
lake. 

From the natives of Ka-Kongo Stanley learned that 
there was no white man on the lake in the neighbor- 
hood ; that no steamer had been seen since Mason Bey's, 
in 1877; ^^^ they had a faint rumor that there was a 
white man somewhere in Unyoro ; and there might be 
another far to the north, but they knew nothing of him. 
Though it took Stanley three hours to extract this in- 
formation from the villagers, after close questioning, it 
was found to be reliable. Emin Pasha, though estab- 
lished at Wadelai, on the north extremity of the lake, 
had never visited the south end of Albert Nyanza and 
up to this time had not even been heard of by the 
fishermen. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Stanley's Rescue of Emin Pasha [Contimied), 

During the next three days, Stanley discussed with 
his officers the information he had gleaned from the 
villagers, and arrived at the conclusion that his only 
course was to return to Kilonga-Longa's station for the 
boat, with which they could then navigate the Albert 
Nyanza and reach Emin Pasha at Wadelai. In order 
to store the extra goods, it would be necessary to build 
a fort, as the natives on the coast were aggressive. 

The expedition retraced its steps from the lake on 
December 17, and, after some skirmishing with the 
natives, recrossed the Ituri, and, entering the forest re- 
gion on January 8, 1888, arrived on the site selected in 
the extensive clearing of Ibwiri, eleven marches from 
the lake. Here they erected a fort, surrounded by a 
ditch, to which they gave the name of Fort Bodo, or 
** Peace," and having cleared the bush, planted about 
seven acres with corn, beans and tobacco. Stanley's 
first step was to send a party back to the Arab settle- 
ment of Kilonga-Longa, a distance of 80 miles, for the 
boat, and to escort Captain Nelson and Dr. Parke, with 
the invalids left at that place. Lieutenant Stairs, in 
command of the party, was instructed to be conciliatory 
towards the Arabs, as intemperate language, or even a 
(228) 



STANLEY'S RESCUE OF EMIN PASHA, 



229 



haughty demeanor, might bring on a collision. Within 
25 days, Lieutenant Stairs marched 160 miles, relieved 
Parke and Nelson, brought the boat, and returned, 
"having," says Stanley, *' endeared himself to his fol- 
lowers, and made the Arabs respect him so highly as 
to yield to him in all he wished." Out of 38 sick in 
charge of these officers, only -2 1 were brought to the 
fort, the rest having died or deserted. 

Two days later, Stanley again sent Stairs a distance 
of 184 miles to escort the 56 convalescents from Ugar- 
rowwa's station to Fort Bodo. He returned to Fort 
Bodo after 69 days' absence, escorted couriers, with 
letters, to Major Barttelot, brought back the convales- 
cents, in going and returning having marched by dif- 
erent routes. 

On the day of this officer's departure, Stanley fell ill 
of a stomach complaint, called ** sub-acute gastritis," 
and also suffered from a painful abscess on the left arm. 
Between February 18 and March 26 his life was in im- 
minent peril. He could not partake of food, and was 
too weak to do anything for himself Throughout his 
illness. Dr. Parke * nursed him with constant care and 
great skill. 

Parke mentions how, when Stanley was apparently at 
the point of death, he said : — '' Doctor, put up the Stars 
and Stripes and cheer me with something bright to look 
at, that I may at least die under the American flag." 

On applying for the appointment of medical officer 
Dr. Parke wrote out with his own hand the terms of 
his engagement, of which one was " loyal and devoted 

■'^ Stanley's original intention was to dispense with a qualified medical 
officer, and it was well for him that Dr. Parke volunteered his services, 
and that they were accepted. 



230 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 



service " gratuitously. His leader has acknowledged 
with gratitude the noble way in which he fulfilled to 
the letter and the spirit this labor of love, and how 
throughout the expedition he worked unremittingly, 
and with singular skill to cure his patients, who varied 
from twenty to fifty daily, and at one time numbered 
124, fully one-third of the total strength of the column. 

It was not until April 2, 1888, that Stanley had suffi- 
ciently recovered to be moved in a hammock. The 
boat had been received, but Stairs had not returned 
with the convalescents, and Stanley resolved to wait no 
longer for him, but return to the Albert Lake. The party, 
headed by their leader in a hammock, and carrying the 
boat, set out from Fort Bodo, where Captain Nelson 
remained as commandant, Jephson and Dr. Parke ac- 
companying Stanley. 

The natives, who had sought to destroy them when 
first marching through their country, responded to 
Stanley's advances, and entered into an agreement to 
supply him with stores gratuitously and to wage war on 
the common enemy, the Wanyoro. Each day the na- 
tives brought gifts of plaintains, corn, goats and cattle, 
for which they would take no payment, and the wants 
of the expedition were supplied, while they furnished 
guides and carried their ammunition and goods. 

One day's march from the lake, a chief handed Stan- 
ley letters from Emin, who, two months after their first 
arrival at the lake, had heard of the visit. 

The boat was launched on the Nyanza, and Jephson 
left with a picked crew to com.municate with the Pasha. 
On the second day, Jephson came to Mswa Station, the 
southernmost in the Equatorial Province, and May i, 
Stanley and his men had the satisfaction of seeing the 




THOMAS H. PARKE AND HIS FAITHFUL PIGMY. 



23il 



232 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 



steamer Khedive on the lake, and soon they welcomed 
in their camp at Nyamsassi, Emin Pasha, for whom they 
had gone through so much suffering, and his companion, 
Captain Casati, and a number of Egyptian officials. 
But now came the disillusionment Instead of finding, 
as they anticipated, and as would be gathered by a pe- 
rusal of his letters, a man eager to return to civilization 
from fulfilling an impossible task, they saw before them 
one who seemed content with his position, and only 
asked for ammunition and stores. Stanley says: 

" Contrary to our expectations, we did not find the 
Pasha disposed to return to the sea, neither was Cap- 
tain Casati ; nor did any one impress us with his eager- 
ness to return to civilization. They all seemed content 
to remain in the land. They praised it highly for its 
fertility and agreeable climate, they loved the natives, 
and praised everything connected with life in that re- 
gion. All the Pasha and Casati seemed to care for was 
means of defence against occasional disturbances. 
None seemed to reflect that after our experiences of the 
forest few would care to repeat them; that the powerful 
Kings of Uganda and Unyoro would always be a bar to 
sure communication with the east coast; that caravans 
would never venture by Masailand to be decimated by 
famine and thirst for the uncertain profits to be derived 
from the dangerous risks of the journey; that no body 
of philanthropists would repeat these expensive outlays 
on behalf of a province so remote from the sea as 
Emin Pasha's, when there were thousands of square 
miles of equally fertile soil lying close to the ocean." 

The united party stayed together until May 25, 1888, 
and then Stanley, who had been expecting the arrival 
of the rear column, under Major Barttelot, or at least 



STANLEY'S RESCUE OF EMIN PASHA. 



233 



some news of it, determined to return to Fort Bodo, 
and if no information had been received there, then 
to march back through the dreary forest region until he 
met his friend or heard news of him, dead or ahve. 

Leaving Jephson with Emin Pasha, and also a few 
Soudanese, Stanley started with the rest of his force for 
Fort Bodo, where they arrived early in June. Still 
there was no news of the rear column, and the anxiety 
of all daily deepened. Food was prepared in abun- 
dance to enable them to cross the dreaded wilderness 
in which they had all so nearly perished, and June 15 
Stanley set out on his search for Major Barttelot's 
column, leaving Stairs in command at Fort Bodo, with 
Nelson and Parke, and 59 men as a garrison. 

The column, he says, who now marched with him 
were very different from the weak, starving wretches 
who had on a former occasion entered the stations of 
Kilonga-Longa and Ugarrowwa. Then they were so 
dispirited by want that they had no pluck to resent the 
ill-treatment received at the hands of these chiefs and 
their men. But now, that they knew the country from 
Yambuya to the Albert, that they had witnessed the 
worst horrors of the wilderness, and had measured their 
strength against tribes from the presence of whom 
the slaves of Ugarrowwa and Kilonga-Longa would 
have fled, inspired them with the belief that in every 
way they were superior men to those for whose smile 
they had a few months before fawned. When the 
column entered Kilonga-Longa settlement, their bearing 
attracted attention, and though no one uttered a threat, 
Kilonga-Longa, of his own accord, collected what Rem- 
ingtons there were with him and quietly laid them at 
Stanley's feet, pleading that it was the fault of his slaves 



234 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

and their ignorance, and that he would not bear maHce. 
As he had no commission to punish any subjects of 
the Sultan of Zanzibar, Stanley coldly accepted the guns 
and assured him that he did not pretend to judge of his 
conduct, and would therefore leave the matter in the 
hands of his master. 

Twenty-eight days' march from Fort Bodo brought 
them once more to Ugarrowwa's station. But it was 
now abandoned, the slave-trader and his hundreds of 
desperadoes having started home with 6co tusks of 
ivory. 

" People in England,*' writes Stanley, " have not the 
slightest idea what the present fashion of ivory collect- 
ing, as adopted by the Arabs and Zanzibari half-castes 
west of the lake regions, means. Slave-trading becomes 
innocence when compared with ivory-trading. The 
latter has become literally a most bloody business. 
Bands consisting of from 300 to 600 Manyuema, armed 
with Enfield carbines and officered by Zanzibari Arabs, 
range over the immense forest-land east of the Upper 
Congo, destroying every district they discover, and 
driving such natives as escape the sudden fusillades 
into the deepest recess of the forest. In the middle of 
a vast circle described by several days' march in every 
direction, the ivory-raiders select a locality wherein 
plaintains are abundant, prepare a few acres for rice, 
and, while the crop is growing, sally out by twenties or 
forties to destroy every village within the circle and to 
hunt up the miserable natives who had escaped their 
first secret and sudden onslaughts. 

*' They are aware that the forest is a hungry wilder- 
ness outside the plantain grove of the clearing, and 
that to sustain life the women must forage far and near 




XU^ KING OF the; IVORY COAST. 



C235) 



236 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 



for berries, wild fruit and fungi. These scattered bands 
of ivory-hunters find these women and children an easy 
prey. The explosion of heavy-loaded guns in the deep 
woods paralyze the timid creatures, and before they 
recover from their deadly fright, they are rushed upon 
and secured. By the possession of these captives they 
impose upon the tribal communities the necessity of 
surrendering every article of value, ivory, or goats, to 
gain the liberty of their relatives. 

" The ivory tusks that Ugarrowwa was bearing now 
to the coast had been acquired by just such destruction 
of human life, and condemnation to misery of the un- 
happy survivors of the tribal communities. What 
Ugarrowwa had within his elected circle, Kilonga-Longa 
performed with no less completeness, and with greater 
disregard to interests of humanity, within his reserve; 
and the same cruel, murderous policy was being pursued 
with dozens of other circles into which the region as far 
south as Uregga, north to the Welle, east to longitude 
29"^ 30', and west to the Congo, was parcelled out." 

Early in August the column overtook the immense 
caravan of Ugarrowwa, his flotilla of 57 canoes laden 
with helpless children, girls, and young women. His 
hoard of ivory, equal to about fifteen tons, was at the 
landing-place of a village near Wasp Rapids, on the 
Ituri River. 

With Ugarrowwa were found the surviving couriers 
who had been despatched from Fort Bodo, February 16, 
in search of Major Barttelot's column, and the mail, 
delivered to Ugarrowwa for transmission to the Major, 
on September 18, 1887, was also returned. The couriers 
had been specially unfortunate. Three of their number 
had been killed, and only five were whole from grievous 



STANLEY'S RESCUE OF EMIN PASHA. 



237 



arrow-wounds. Ugarrowwa's band of 40 picked men 
had been also unable to proceed b.elow Wasp Rapids. 

Pursuing their course down stream, on August 17, 
they discovered all that were left of the rear column 
within a palisaded village formerly belonging to the 
Banalya tribe, a few marches from Yambuya. Major 
Barttelot had been shot by one of his Manyuema head- 
men a year earlier; and Jameson had returned to Stanley 
Falls to secure from Tippoo Tib an Arab assistant to 
govern the unruly mob of Manyuema carriers, whom 
Tippoo Tib had, after eleven months* constant solicita- 
tions on the part of these officers, finally furnished with 
an inefficient leader. Troup had been invalided home 
in the previous May. Ward was somewhere on the 
Lower Congo, having been despatched, after nine 
months' stay at Yambuya, to cable to the Home Relief 
Committee some unauthenticated rumors respecting 
misfortunes which were said to have overtaken the 
advance column, and to ask for instructions. 

Of the gallant band of officers, only Bonny* remained, 
and from him Stanley heard a sad tale of disaster and 
failure. He learned that on his arrival at Banalya 
Jameson died. It seems that on August 12 he com- 
menced the descent of the Congo from Stanley Falls in 
a canoe, and that, five days later, he died of fever. 
Stanley witnessed in that crowded village some of the 
miseries they had endured. The small-pox was raging, 
six bodies lay unburied; and if any member of the 

* Stanley expressly exempts Mr. Bonny from any blame for the mis- 
forlunes which overtook the rear column. On the day of the murder 
of Major Barttelot, when the property of the expedition was looted, 
Bonny recovered 300 loads, and by his firmness kept the remnant of the 
column intact until Stanley arrived. 



238 



AFRICAN EX PL OR A TIONS, 



rear column presented himself to his old comrades for 
recognition, they saw only a living skeleton. 

Thus a well-equipped and organized column of 271 
had been reduced to 102 miserable, starved wretches, 
and, in a great measure, this sad result was due to 
breach of contract on the part of Tippoo Tib, who 
induced Major Barttelot, by repeated promises to sup- 
ply the carriers, which he had no intention of fulfilling, 
to delay his march in the track of the advance column. 
Not until eleven months after they were promised did 
the porters arrive, but in the meantime, the rear column, 
consisting of Zanzibaris and Soudanese, had lost three- 
fourths of their number in the camp from disease, caused 
in a measure by this long inaction. 

Stanley now busied himself in reorganizing the ex- 
pedition, and on August 31, 1888, began his return 
march to the Albert Nyanza, taking with him the sur- 
viving members of the rear column, including Mr. 
Bonny, and such Manyuema carriers as volunteered to 
accompany him. The goods and sick men were placed 
in a number of canoes he had collected. 

The expedition experienced much opposition from 
the wild tribes, and some of the best men were killed. 
On October 30, four days* journey above Ugarrowwa's 
station, or about 300 miles from Banalya, Stanley aban- 
doned his canoes and bei^an his march alon^^ the north 
bank of the Ituri River. Two days later, they dis- 
covered a plantation of plantains in charge of the 
dwarf natives, when the people revelled in this luxury, 
and carried off a week's provisions of plantain flour. 
Ten days* march brought them to another plantation. 
During this time the small-pox made great ravages 
among tlie Manyuema carriers, but the Zanzibar! men 



240 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 

escaped, owing to their having been vaccinated on 
board ship. 

Continuing along the right bank of the Ihuru, a trib- 
utary of the Ituri, about 60 yards wide, until they could 
find a crossing, they stumbled across a large village, 
called Andikuma, surrounded- by a fine plantation of 
plantains, where the people, after many days' fast, 
gorged themselves with this food to such excess, that 
a large number were unfit for duty. A six days' march 
brought them to another flourishing settlement, called 
Indeman. They found a place where they could build 
a bridge to cross the river. Bonny and the Zanzibaris 
worked with such celerity, that in a few hours the 
Dui, as the right branch of the Ihuru River is called, 
was passed, and they crossed from the Indeman dis- 
trict into one entirely free from the ravages of the Man- 
yuema. In this land, between the right and left branches 
of the Ihuru, the dwarfs, called the Wambutti, were 
very numerous, and came into constant collision with 
the rear-guard of the expedition. 

Following elephant and game tracks in the required 
south-easterly direction, on December 9, they were com- 
pelled to halt to search for food in the middle of a vast 
forest. Stanley sent 150 armed men back to a settle- 
ment, 15 miles distant, on the route they had traversed, 
and many of the Manyuema carriers followed them to 
assist in foraging. 

At this place the expedition was nearly overwhelmed 
with disaster, as is shown by the following extracts 
from Mr. Stanley's diary, written on December 14, 
six days after the departure of the foragers : ** Six 
days have transpired since our foragers left us. For 
the first four days time passed rapidly — I might say al- 



STANLEY'S RESCUE OF EMIN PASHA. 24! 

most pleasantly — being occupied in recalculating all my 
observations from Ugarrowwa to Lake Albert and down 
to date, owing to a few discrepancies here and there, 
which my second and third visits, and duplicate and 
triplicate observations, enabled me to correct. My oc- 
cupation then ended, I was left to wonder why the 
large band of foragers did riot return. The fifth day, 
having distributed all the stock of flour in camp, and 
killed the only goat we possessed, I was compelled to 
open the officers' provision boxes and take a pound pot 
of butter, with two cupfuls of my flour to make an 
imitation gruel, there being nothing else save tea, cof- 
fee, sugar, and a pot of sago in the boxes. In the after- 
noon a boy died, and the condition of a majority of 
the rest was most disheartening ; some could not stand, 
but fell down in the effort. These constant sights acted 
on my nerves, until I began to feel not only moral, but 
physical sympathy as well, as though weakness was 
contagious. Before night a Madi carrier died ; the last 
of our Soomaulis gave signs of collapse; the few 
Soudanese with us were scarcely able to move." 

On the morning of the sixth day, the broth was made 
as usual, consisting of a pot of butter, a tin of condensed 
milk, and a cupful of flour, with water, for one hundred 
and thirty people. The case had now become despe- 
rate, and Stanley called Bonny and the leaders into 
council. Bonny offered to stay in camp if ten days' 
food was provided, while Mr. Stanley proceeded in 
search of the missing party. Accordingly a store of 
butter, milk, flour and biscuits was handed over to him. 

On the afternoon of the seventh day, Stanley mus- 
tered all of his men, and addressing the 43 feeble, 
starving people who were to be left behind, informed 
16 



242 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

them that he hoped to meet the foragers on the road 
and return rapidly with the food they had doubtless 
found, and encouraged them to keep up their hearts, 
though his own was heavy with anxiety and foreboding. 

That afternoon Stanley traveled back nine miles, 
having passed several dead bodies on the road, and 
early on the following day, being the eighth on which 
the foragers had quitted the camp, he met them march- 
ing at their ease. He changed the pace into a quick- 
step, and within 26 hours of leaving Starvation Camp, 
they were back, bringing an abundance with them, and 
soon gruel and porridge were boiling, plantains were 
roasting and meat simmering in pots for soup. 

'* This/' writes Stanley, *' has been the nearest ap- 
proach to absolute starvation in all my African experi- 
ence. Twenty-one persons altogether succumbed in this 
dreadful camp.'* 

Proceeding on their march on December 17, the 
Ihuru River was crossed on the following day, and 
Stanley pushed on for Fort Bodo with the greatest de- 
spatch. Marching through the forest, regardless of 
paths, they had the good fortune to strike the western 
angle of the Fort Bodo plantations on the 20th, which 
was two days before the expiration of the term of his ab- 
sence, as arranged by Stanley seven months before. 
But here again, as in the case of the rear-guard, he was 
doomed to experience a disappointment. When leaving 
Jephson and Emin Pasha, they had both promised to 
be at Fort Bodo by the middle of August, or therea- 
bouts, when it was arranged that the fort was to be 
evacuated and a new station formed near Kavalli, on the 
south-western side of Albert Nyanza. But Lieut. Stairs, 
who was still at Fort Bodo, with 5 1 out of his original 



244 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 

garrison of 59, had heard no word from Emin or Jephson 
since Stanley's departure. This filled the leader with 
anxiety on Jephson's account, for, as to Emin, he was 
convinced that he loved the country and his people, and 
the life he had led, too much to be induced to retire 
with him to the coast, and Casati, he considered, held 
the same views. 

On December 23, having first set fire to the fort, 
which had so long sheltered the sick and feeble mem- 
bers of the expedition, Stanley started once more for 
the Albert Lake. In order to remove all the surplus 
stores left in the fort, some 50 loads, and those brought 
with the rear column, they had to work by relays, and 
double marches were made from Fort Bodo to the edge 
of the grass-land, in order to leave nothing behind that 
might be of service to Emin Pasha. On January 9, 
1889, they reached the Ituri Ferry, which was the last 
halt in the forest region before reaching the open coun- 
try ; and selecting a good camping site, on the east 
bank of the river, Stanley left Lieut. Stairs in com- 
mand with 124 people, including Nelson and Parke, 
and, two days later, continued his march for the Albert 
Nyanza. 

They were welcomed by the people of the plains, 
who, fearing a repetition of the fighting in December, 
1887, flocked to the camp headed by their chiefs, 
and tendered their submission, agreeing to supply con- 
tributions of grain and plantains, and bringing small 
droves of cattle for the subsistence of the strangers. 
They also constructed the huts for the camps, and 
brought fuel and water each day. On January 16, 
1889, a messenger arrived from the friendly chief at 
Kavalli, with a packet of letters, one from Jephson, 



STANLEY'S RESCUE OF EMIN PASHA. 



245 



written at intervals of several days, and two from 
Emin, confirming Jephson's news. With amazement, 
Stanley read his lieutenant's ^ letter, which was dated, 
" Duffle, November 7, 1888," in which he stated that, 
on August 18, a rebellion broke out there, got up by 
some Egyptian officers and officials, and he and Emin 
were arrested and placed in confinement, though they 
feared to do any personal injury to the Pasha, who was 
popular with the soldiers. 

Plans were also made to entrap Stanley on his re- 
turn, and strip the expedition of its stores and supplies. 

Emin Pasha confirmed this intelligence in his letter, 
but gave no hint of the course he proposed to adopt. 

Stanley wrote a formal letter, which might be read 
by any person, and on a separate piece of paper, a 
postscript for Jephson's perusal. In this, addressed 
from Kavalli, on January 18, 1889, he says he is send- 
ing 30 of his own men and three of Kavalli's to the 
lake with his letters, and that he (Jephson) would be 
escorted to his camp, and added, that he must '* be 
wise, be quick, and waste no hour of time.' ' 

On February 6, Jephson arrived at the camp at 
Kavalli, on the plateau above the lake, and, in a few 
words, he enlightened Stanley as to the views of Emin, 
and his friend Casati. " Sentiment," he said, ** is the 
Pasha's worst enemy ; no one keeps Emin Pasha back, 
but Emin Pasha himself." This expressed a correct 
estimate of Emin's character formed by Jephson, after 
an acquaintance lasting from May 25, 1888, to Febru- 
ary 6, 1889. 

Casati had no views on this question but those of 
the Pasha, with whose fortunes his own were bound up. 

Stanley, in order to bring matters to a crisis one 



246 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



way or the other, wrote to Emin urging him, in the 
strongest terms, to come to a decision ; and on Febru- 
ary 13, he received a letter from the Pasha, in- 
forming him that, on the preceding day, he had 
arrived with his two steamers *' carrying a first 
lot of people desirous to leave this country under 
your escort,'* and adding, ** as soon as I have 
arranged for cover for my people, the steamers 
have to start for Mswa Station, to bring on another 
lot of people waiting transport." Stanley sent carriers 
and an escort down to the lake, and on February 17, 
Emin Pasha arrived in his camp with about 65 people, 
also Selim Bey, and seven other officers, the deputation 
sent by the mutineers of the Equatorial Province. 
Emin was in muftis but the officers, three of whom were 
Egyptians, and the remainder Nubians, of soldierly ap- 
pearance, were in uniform. 

To sum up Stanley's labors to this point, for the 
third time he had come to the Albert Nyanza from 
the west. 

A wonderful record is the story of his marches. 
The first journey from Yambuya to the lake, 171 
days ; the second journey from the lake to Fort Bodo, 
22 days ; the third journey from the fort to the lake, 
20 days ; the fourth journey from the lake to Banalya, 
82 days; and then this fifth journey from Banalya 
back to the lake, 107 days, making a total of 402 
days. 

Thus it is seen how for more than thirteen months 
out of a year and a half the leader was on the con- 
stant move, making his way through virgin forests 
that had neither road nor track; forcing his path 
through tangled brushwood and over rushing torrents; 



248 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



carrying in his train many thousands of pounds* 
weight of goods, provisions, and ammunition ; harassed 
over and over again by warHke and suspicious sav- 
ages ; uncertain as to the means of providing food for 
his hundreds of followers ; exposed to an unhealthy 
atmosphere, and personally suffering the pangs of 
hunger and privation. Such was the man who, in 
spite of climate, in spite of hostilities, in spite of 
famine, in spite of sickness, never swerved from his 
line of duty and devotion, but faced all difficulties, re- 
solved to overcome them till his work was done. 

Next day Lieut. Stairs arrived, with his column, 
from the Ituri River, and the same day, the durbar 
was held, the Pasha acting as interpreter between 
Stanley and the deputation, who presented him with 
a document, signed by the leaders in the province, 
regretting their action in deposing the Pasha, express- 
ing loyalty to the Khedive, and a hope that he would 
allow a reasonable time for the officers to collect the 
troops and their families, and bring them to his camp. 
Learning from the Pasha that twenty days would be 
considered a reasonable time, 'Stanley consented, and 
sent them back with a written promise to this effect, 
but the Pasha was to remain meanwhile in his camp. 
The two steamers were employed bringing fresh batches 
of refugees to the camp on the plateau, 2800 feet above 
the Nyanza, with their loads, no less than 1355 in 
number ; but the soldiers made no appearance. 

Stanley waited until March 16, but there was no 
sign of the arrival of the troops, who numbered 1500 
regulars, with 3000 irregulars and their families. At 
Emin's request the time was extended to April 10, and, 
meantime, there were frequent communications between 



STANLEY'S RESCUE OF EMIN PASHA. 



249 



the Egyptians in his camp and their compatriots at Wade- 
lai. While Stanley was rendered uneasy by furtive meet- 
ings in his camp, the Pasha continued to express un- 
bounded confidence in the loyalty of his men. On 
April 5, an attempt was made to steal several of the 
Remington rifles, and during the night Stanley re- 
ceived notice of the result of a secret meeting of the 
rebels in his camp. Accordingly, he mustered the 
fugitives, and gave them to understand that the death 
penalty would be inflicted on any one engaged in sedi- 
tious plots. 

On April 10, i88g, the Egyptians and their families 
and following, numbering 570 persons, escorted by the 
expedition and 350 carriers of the district, started for 
the south end of the Albert Nyanza on their journey 
towards Zanzibar. But their advance was arrested on 
the second day by an unexpected incident. Stanley 
was seized with a recurrence of his malady; his life 
was despaired of, and it was only by the care and skill 
of Surgeon Parke that, on May 8, he had sufficiently 
recovered to enable him to order the march for the 
coast. 

Meantime the rebels continued their schemings. 
Rifles, equipment and ammunition were stolen every 
day. Parties of four or five deserted, and finally, twenty 
men disappeared with five rifles. Under Stanley's 
directions, a party of his men — of whom everyone of 
the 350 under his command were loyal to the core to 
him — was despatched in pursuit, and a ringleader and 
twelve men were discovered and brought back to the 
camp. Some letters, intended for the rebels at Wadelai, 
fell by accident into his hands, and in one of them, an 
Egyptian captain wrote to Selim Bey, at Wadelai, in 



250 AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 

the following terms : — " For God's sake, hurry up 50 
soldiers to our aid. With their help, we may at least 
delay the march of the expedition until you arrive with 
your force. Had we 200, we could effect immediately 
what we mutually wish." This was plain-speaking 
enough, and by means of this, and other letters, Stanley 
became acquainted with the names of the traitors and 
their plans. Even Emin could no longer doubt their 
treachery, or their intention of carrying into effect the 
grand idea of effecting the ** capture of the expedition, 
with all its members, arms, and property, and present 
it to the Khalifa, at Khartoum.'' 

Stanley convened a court, consisting of the European 
officers in camp, by whom the ringleader, referred to 
above, was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death. 
Stanley says: "The scene of the execution was most 
solemn, and it is my opinion that it affected the rebellious 
most profoundly, for during all their service in the 
Equatorial Province, not one death sentence was passed. 
They seemed to perceive that now there was another 
regime, and to understand that to play at revolt and 
mutiny was dangerous. We may observe the effect of 
the lesson taught, in the absolute peacefulness of the 
march hence to Zanzibar." The last Stanley heard of 
Selim Bey was on May 8, when he received a letter, 
taking him to task for compelling Egyptian officers 
to carry loads (which was an unfounded charge), and 
he ended by begging him to extend the time of his 
departure, and announced that some of the rebel officers 
and their adherents had broken into the storehouses 
and stolen the reserve ammunition and stores. Stan- 
ley replied that he would proceed forward at a slow 
rate, but could no longer delay his march. 



STANLEY'S RESCUE OF EMIN PASHA. 25 I 

But the attention of the leader of this great exodus 
was now fully taken up with measures for the security 
of the mixed mass of human beings under his charge. 
The route he adopted skirted the Baregga Mountains, 
at a distance of about forty miles from the Albert 
Nyanza. On the fourth day they arrived at the southern 
end of these mountains, when they became aware that 
Kabba-Rega, King of Unyoro, whose territories they 
now entered, intended to dispute their passage. But 
without making a great ^^/^^r through the forest, which 
would have been fatal to most of the Egyptians, they 
had no option but to press on through the open grass- 
land between it and the Semliki River. 

On the first day of entering the Unyoro territory, they 
were attacked by the Warasura, or Wanyoro sol- 
diers, many of whom had breech-loaders — Remingtons, 
Sniders, and Winchesters — who were beaten back. The 
effect of this defeat was to clear the country of the 
Warasura as far as the Semliki, though a second attack, 
with a like result, was made as they were ferrying across 
that river. 

After crossing to the eastern shore of the Semliki, 
they entered the Awamba region, and for several days, 
marched through plantations of plantains in the clear- 
ings. Day by day, as they advanced, was brought into 
greater prominence a splendid range of snow-clad 
mountains, whose north-western base line they skirted, 
having an altitude of 18,000 to 19,000 feet above sea- 
level, which had first arrested their attention on arriving 
at the Albert Nyanza in May of the preceding year. 
This range, whence issue the streams which supply the 
Semliki, is called Ruwenzori, or the " Snowy Range," 



252 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 



and might well be the " Mountains of the Moon *' of 
the ancients, the fabled source of the Nile. 

Stanley wrote to the Geographical Society of his dis- 
covery of this range of mountains, and of the lake, to 
which he gave the name of Albert Edward Nyanza. 
" Baker, in 1864, reported the Albert Nyanza to stretch 
* inimitably ' in a south-westerly direction from Vacovia ; 
and Gessi Pasha, who first circumnavigated that lake, 
and Mason Bey, who, in 1877, made a more careful in- 
vestigation of it, never hinted at the existence of a 
snowy mountain in that neighborhood, nor did the two 
last travelers pay any attention to the Semliki River. 
I might even add that Emin Pasha, for years resident 
at or near the Lake Albert, or Captain Casati, who, for 
some months resided in Unyoro, never heard of any 
snowy mountain being in that region, therefore we may 
well call it an unsuspected part of Africa. Surely, it 
was none of our purpose to discover it. It simply 
thrust itself direct in our homeward route and as it in- 
sisted on our following its base-line, we viewed it from 
all sides but the north-cast." 

The beginning of the Semliki Valley, extending from 
the Albert Lake in a south-west direction, is very level ; 
for a distance of 30 miles it only attains an altitude of 
50 feet above the lake. Beyond this is a region of 
dense and rank tropical forest, and the valley rises sen- 
sibly higher until, at about 75 miles from the Albert 
Nyanza, it has attained an elevation of about 900 feet 
above its waters. Here the forest region abruptly ends, 
and gives place to a stretch of grass-land until the Al- 
bert Edward Nyanza is reached. 

Rounding the south-western extremity of Ruwenzori, 
two days later they entered Usongora, and camped on 




RUVVENZORI — THE SNOW MOUNTAINS. 

{^Mountains of the Moon.) 



253 



254 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



the shores of the newly-discovered lake, *' which," says 
Stanley in his official report, *' is, in reality, the source 
of the south-western branch of the White Nile." 

Pushing on, they skirted Ruanda, an extensive country 
lying between this river and the Congo watershed to 
the west, and now entered the better-known land of 
Karagwe, south of that river, on the shores of the Vic- 
toria Nyanza. They were welcomed by the grateful 
people as their deliverers from the dreaded Wanyoro, 
and were supplied with cattle, grain and bananas. 
Stanley says: — "An expedition, such as I led, of 800 
souls, would, under ordinary circumstances, have needed 
forty bales of cloth and twenty sacks of beads, as 
currency to purchase food. Not a bead, or yard of 
cloth was demanded from us. Such small gifts of 
cloth as we gave to the chiefs, were given of our own 
accord." 

On August 28, the expedition arrived at Mslala, the 
Missionary Society*s station at the south end of the Vic- 
toria Nyanza Lake, under the charge of Mr. Mackay, 
whom Stanley calls '' the modern Livingstone." About 
a degree west of Mackay's mission station, they dis- 
covered the south-western extremity of Lake Victoria. 
''Our journey," says Stanley, ''had led us along an 
entirely undiscovered portion of the western coast, which 
was extended to 2° 48^ S. Lat., whence we turned directly 
east forUsambiro, situated at the termination of the long 
bay on the south coast of the lake. This considerable 
extension of the Victoria increases its superficial area, 
and gives it a length of 270 statute miles." 

At the missionary station, Emin Pasha addressed to 
the Relief Committee, in London, a letter of thanks, in 
which he says: — "It would be impossible to tell you 



STANLEY'S RESCUE OF EMIN PASHA. 255 

what has happened here after Mr. Stanley *s first start; 
his graphic pen will tell you everything much better 
than I could. I hope, also, the Egyptian Government 
permitting it, some future day to be allowed to present 
myself before you, and to express to you then the feel- 
ings of gratitude my pen would be short in expressing, 
in a personal interview. Until such happy moments 
come, I beg to ask you to transmit to all subscribers of 
the fund, the sincerest thanks of a handful of forlorn 
people, who through your instrumentality have been 
saved from destruction and now hope to embrace their 
relatives. To speak here of Mr. Stanley's and his 
officers' merits would be inadequate. If I live to return 
I shall make my acknowledgments." 

On their arrival at the missionary station of Mslala, 
the expedition had traversed, since leaving the Albert 
Edward Nyanza, "400 miles of an absolutely new region, 
untraveled and unvisited by any white man," and for 
♦^hree-fourths of this journey they were the recipients 
of welcome and daily bounties such as are unparalleled 
in African travel. Once a week Stanley was able, by 
means of the herds captured from the hostile Wanyoro, 
and the gifts of the people, to distribute 8000 pounds 
of meat rations to the entire column. 

After a stay of 19 days at the station, the expedition, 
guided by one of Mr. Mackay's people, resumed its 
march towards the coast ; but they were not destined to 
complete the journey without serious opposition from 
the natives. The Wasukuma had been accustomed to 
stop caravans and extort what they wished. They tried 
the same course of insolent extortion, and when this 
was repelled, disputed the advance of the column 



2s6 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 



through their territory for five days. They attacked in 
great numbers, and, says Stanley, ** frequently advanced 
by hundreds on either flank of the column, but the 
breachloaders restrained them from reaching the line of 
march." 

On leaving this hostile country they entered friendly 
territory and thence to Mpwapvva, their progress was 
unimpeded and without incident. Many European 
nationalities were now represented in his camp. Be- 
sides German, French, Italian, Greek and Egyptians, for 
whom they acted as escorts, almost every district be- 
tween Usukuma and Mpwapwa sent new accessions of 
Africans who were unable to reach the coast or feared 
oppression by the way, until the column numbered 
about lOOO souls. 

Long before reaching Mpwapwa, however, rumor was 
busy with the events of the coast. They heard of mis- 
sionaries murdered and mission-houses burnt, of Ger- 
man officers killed, and coast towns levelled to the 
ground in retaliation ; and at Mpwapvva they witnessed 
the results of the war in the ruined English mission- 
house, and the dismantled fort of the German East 
African Company. 

Near Simbaruwemi the expedition received a wel- 
come supply of European comforts, which had been 
sent by the thoughtful kindness of Major Wissmann, 
the German Commissioner, and thence each day their 
hearts were gladdened with kindly notes and gifts 
from English friends at Zanzibar. At the Kingani 
Ferry they had the pleasure of meeting Major Wiss- 
mann, and being escorted thence to Bagamoyo, and 
within ten minutes of their arrival the officers were 



2S8 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 



seated before a breakfast as sumptuous as any Berlin 
restaurant could have furnished.* 

Out of the number of 570 refugees from the Equa- 
torial Province who had sought convoy to the coast, ac- 
cording to the muster-roll at Kavalli, on April 5, there 
arrived, on December 4, 1889, at Bagamoyo, on the 
mainland opposite Zanzibar, only 291 souls. The loss 
was, therefore, 279, or nearly one-half, during a journey 
of 1400 miles, but the greater portion of these, about 
200, were left under the care of various friendly native 
chiefs. The remainder, about 80 souls, perished of 
ulcers, fevers or debility. 

" Here," says Stanley, '' my duty ended. The Pasha 
was among his friends. Casati was with the Italian 
consul, the English officers were with their country- 
men, the faithful Zanzibars were in their own land, 
and I was once more free." 

The loss among the members of the expedition was 
very heavy. Of the 13 Soomaulis, engaged by Major 
Barttelot at Aden, only one survived the journey. 
Three of them were killed by natives while foraging for 
food; nine died from fever and debility. Of the 60 
Soudanese enlisted at Cairo, only 12 returned to the 
coast, seven having been already sent home from Yam- 
buya. Of the 41 thus lost, two suffered the death 

* After passing unscathed through the dangers of his long residence 
in Central Africa, surrounded latterly by traitors, Emin Pasha narrowly 
fell a victim to an accident such as might happen to any slay-at-home 
old lady anywhere. As Bruce was killed by falling down the stairs of 
his house in Scotland, after his wanderings in Abyssinia, so Emin Pasha, 
after the banquet at Bagamoyo in honor of himself and Stanley, walked 
out of an open window, which, with his impaired sight, he mistook for 
a door. For many weeks he lingered between life and death, and re- 
covered as by a miracle, thanks chiefly to the care of Surgeon Parke. 



STANLEY'S RESCUE OF EMIN PASHA, 259 

penalty for mutiny and murder, and one deserted. Of 
the 620 Zanzibaris,* only 225 returned to their native 
island; 55 were killed in the skirmishes which took 
place between Yambuya and the Albert Nyanza ; two 
were executed for selling their rifles and ammunition to 
the enemy; 202 died of starvation and disease, and the 
rest deserted. 

Of the Europeans, Major Barttelot was murdered, 
Mr. Jameson died of fever, and Messrs. Stairs, Nelson, 
Jephson, Parke, Bonny, Ward and Troup, and Hoffman 
(Stanley's servant) emerged out of Africa in safety." 

Stanley drew special attention to the good service 
rendered by Lieutenant Stairs, Captain Nelson, Mr. 
Jephson, and Surgeon Parke, his companions through- 
out the period embraced between March, 1887, when 
the expedition started on the land journey on the Lower 
Congo, and on December 4, 1889, on which date, after 
crossing the continent of Africa, it reached the port of 
Bagamoyo on the Indian Ocean. He says: — ''Words 
fail to express my deep feelings of thankfulness that it 
was my fortune to be blessed with such noble com- 
panionship. Never, while human nature remains as we 
know it, will there be found four gentlemen so match- 
less for their constancy, devotion to their work, earnest 
purpose, and unflinching obedience to honor and duty." 

■^Lieutenant Stairs, second in command of the expedition, said of 
these faithful Zanzibaris : — "From first to last the Zanzibaris taken round 
to the Congo behaved in a manner in every way worthy of the situation. 
They had many difficulties to contend with, but in six months they got 
to understand the character of the Zanzibaris, and he thought the Zanzi- 
baris understood them, and it walkthrough kindness and firmness they 
succeeded so well. They treated them as if they were white men and 
soldiers, and they never failed them. In the open country through 
which they went they always responded to the whistle of Mr. Stanley, 
which was sounded in the morning for the march." 



26o AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS, 

Besides effecting their object, the expedition ex- 
plored about 1 200 miles of an unknown region, and 
made several interesting discoveries. Stanley proved 
that east and north and north-east of the Congo there 
exists an immense area of about 250,000 square miles, 
which is covered by one unbroken forest. He added 
to our knowledge of the sources of the Nile, to ascer- 
tain which so many brave and valuable lives have been 
sacrificed. Stanley's discovery of the source of the 
south-west branch of the White Nile is of great in- 
terest. He says : — '' We now know that the White 
Nile is formed by the surplus waters of the two lakes, 
the Victoria and the Albert Edward respectively, to the 
south-east and south-west, which are received by thi 
Albert, and discharged northward towards the Mediter- 
ranean in one grand river, called the Bahr-el-Abiad, or 
the White River. We also know now the exact limits of 
the Albert, Victoria, and Albert Edward Lakes', which 
are embraced within the Nile basin, and are situated 
near the sources of the famous river. We have dis- 
covered the mountains, called by the early Arab geo- 
graphers, the Mountains of the Moon, and whose 
snowy tops, known by the modern name, Ruwenzori, 
furnish the waters which form the Semliki River and 
the Albert Edward Lake.'' 

The distance traveled in the interior of Africa by 
Stanley, personally, is estimated by him at 5400 miles, 
of which all but looo miles were on foot. The expedi- 
tion occupied three years, and rescued nearly 300 
persons at a cost of less than ;^ 150,000, so that on the 
lower grounds of economy, its success must be regarded 
as remarkable. 

As we have followed him in all his travels, we will 



262 AFRICAN EXPL RA TIONS. 

give a recapitulation of his discoveries. In company 
with Livingstone, he explored the northern portion of 
Lake Tanganyika, and settled, in the negative, the 
question, then much debated among geographers, 
whether the Nile did or did not take its rise among 
those ample waters. Then,. upon the second expedi- 
tion, he traced down the Shimeyu River, which flows 
from the south, about 300 miles, into the Victoria 
Nyanza, and is accordingly one of the ultimate sources 
of the Nile. He circumnavigated the Victoria Nyanza, 
and discovered Lake Albert Edward. He also cir- 
cumnavigated Lake Tanganyika, and showed that it 
discharged its waters into the Lualaba through the 
Opoco. Then he traced the Lualaba itself, which he 
proved to be the Congo, thus settling the question 
which had perplexed the mind of Livingstone so much 
in his last years. Lastly, he traced the Congo down to 
the sea, *' through an Odyssey of wandering and an 
Iliad of combat," and by that means, he threw open to 
the enterprise of Europe a territory fully as large as 
British India. Throughout all his journeys, Staflley 
was his own surveyor, his own astronomical observer, 
and the recorder of his own actions. Like Ulysses, he 
had seen many races, and had traversed many lands ; 
and he has said that his journeys in Abyssinia and 
Ashantee, in search of Livingstone, across Africa, tlie 
expeditions up the Congo, and the last, to relieve Emin 
Pasha, covered about 24,000 miles of ground. 

Honors and congratulations were showered from many 
lands upon Stanley for his last great journey, perhaps 
the most remarkable in the whole history of travel : in 
Egypt, by the Khedive and all the nationalities who 
congregate in the winter at Cairo, that cosmopolitan 



STANLEY'S RESCUE OF EMIN PASHA. 



263 



resort; in Belgium, by its enlightened ruler, and all 
classes among his subjects ; and in England, which is 
proud to claim the Welshman as one of her own sons. 
The English people appreciated the magnitude of the 
discoveries made by Stanley ; the brilliance of his last 
achievement, and the remarkable combination of quali- 
ties which have made him pre-eminent among modern 
explorers. 

The statements of Stanley*s cruelty and disregard for 
human life are baseless. He was most forbearing 
throughout his last journey; and only attacked the 
natives when they refused to permit the expedition to 
proceed on its march and attacked him. Then he 
brushed them on one side, but with no needless 
slaughter. As to the stories of his executing many of 
his followers, he only inflicted the death penalty on 
four.* 

He risked his life, and a reputation as an explorer who 
had never known failure ; success, therefore, could add 
little to his fame, whereas he imperilled everything 
an ambitious man, or self-seeker, values. 

Stanley's training as a soldier in the Confederate army 
was serviceable when promptitude and decision were 
required in dealing with the traitors under Emin Pasha's 

■^ He writes on this head : " I had to execute four men during our ex- 
pedition : two for stealing rifles, cartridges and ammunition ; one of the 
Pasha's people for conspiracy, theft and decoying about thirty women 
belonging to the Egyptians, besides for seditious plots — court-martialed 
by all officers and sentenced to be hung; a Soudanese soldier, the last, 
who deliberately proceeded to a friendly tribe and began shooting at the 
natives. One man was shot dead instantly and another was seriously 
wounded. The chief came and demanded justice, the people were 
mustered, the murderer and his companions were identified, the identifi- 
cation by his companions confirmed, and the murderer was delivered to 
them according to the law of * blood for blood,' " 



264 



AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. 



command, and his readiness as a sailor who had served 
in the Federal navy was equally valuable in enabling 
him to deal with any unexpected difficulty in the line 
of march. 

Throughout the expedition Stanley displayed a high 
courage and cheerful spirit- that no evil fortune could 
daunt, and a fertility of resource that was equal to any 
demand made upon it. Where he was present success 
smiled upon the expedition, but in his absence failure 
ensued, only to disappear with his advent on the scene. 
These qualities, the success he attained when confrontec' 
with well-nigh insurmountable difficulties, the immens 
extent of ground covered during his travels, amountin 
as he has said, to some 24,000 miles, and the magnit; 
and importance of his discoveries, fully entitle him t( 
take rank as the ** Napoleon of African Travel." 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



020 126 422 4 



'"^SiWi,, 




